With all the US action this past weekend it's easy to forget that the first world title fight of the weekend was actually in South Africa as Hekkie Budler (24-1, 7) took on Argentina's little known Hugo Hernan Verchelli (11-2, 6) in a bout for the WBA interim Minimumweight title.
The fight, which took place in Budler's home area of Gauteng was viewed by some as a solid match up. Instead however it turned out, as I assumed, to be a mismatch as Verchelli's inexperience around this sort of level was exposed very early on.
Budler set off with an all action style and by the end of the first round it appeared that this was the Budler of old, the Budler who had created a buzz due to being so fun and exciting. Although Verchelli saw out the early storm he was always struggling to work his way back in to things and he lacked the power or the skills needed to prevent Budler from fighting like a buzzsaw.
It wasn't long until Budler's power and work rate took it's toll on Verchelli who was dropped 3 times in round 4 before the referee was forced to wave the contest off.
With the victory Budler adds the WBA "interim" title to his IBO title and opens the door to a major international contest with another top guy at 105lbs.
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 November 2013
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Moruti Mthalane v Ricardo Nunez
In the final world title fight of the weekend we saw the IBF Flyweight title defended by South African Moruti Mthalane (29-2, 20) who viciously stopped the Panamanian challenger Ricardo Nunez (24-3, 20) in a fight of the year contender.
The bout started excellently for the champion who dropped the challenger with a single shot in the opening round. Although Nunez recovered to his feet he took a shelling to end the round and it appeared as if we were going to have a very early night on our hands as the champion couldn't miss. The champion again had the better of the action in the following round as he blocked most of Nunez's attacks and landed some picture perfect counters that appeared to shake the challenger time and time again.
In round 3 the bout took a total 180 and Nunez's relentless aggression was rewarded as he dropped the champion in the late stages of the round after the two men had had a tear up of a round. Nunez continued his onslaught successfully in the following round as he leveled the scores on my card at 37-37. Mthalane was forced mostly to cover up doing the 4th as Nunez went hell for leather looking to end the bout early.
At the start of the 5th it was Mthalane looked ragged as he swung and miss and it seemed as if South African boxing was going to have a nightmare of a night as Nunez kept throwing trying to again drop the champion. Although Mthalane was starting to look tired at the end of the round the challenger couldn't capitalise as the tempo of the fight started to drop after a crazy start.
Round 6 was the most nip and tuck of the rounds with both men having solid spells but neither man really standing out, though it was obvious that Nunez was on the verge of punching himself out. His crisp aggressive punching had started to look less crisp, his defense had started to look more porous and whilst it was the challenger bringing the fight it was also the challenger being tagged the harder. The following round saw Mthalane regain control of the bout against a visibly tiring Nunez who was starting to look incredibly inefficient as Mthalane snapped his head back and forced him backwards. It appeared as if the talented South African was about to take the fight down the stretch anticipating that Nunez would wear himself out.
The end of the bout came in round 8 with Mthalane taking advantage of Nunez's slower hands and lower work rate, everything the champion was throwing was landing and snapping the head of the challenger back. A single show seemed to hurt the challenger and the champion pounced unleashing a flurry, this had Nunez in trouble and trying to run across the ring to freedom. Mthalane refused to let his pray go and unleashed one of the most devastating and prolonged attacks you will see in a boxing ring this year as he volleyed a none stop combination to the head of Nunez. The referee stood idly by as Nunez took 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 clean blows, the referee seemed to want to give the challenger every chance but the fight was done as he kept watching on 13, 14,15,16 Mthalane wasn't going to stop until the referee called the bout. Nunez's unconscious was draped between the ropes by the time the referee had seen enough and finally stepped in several seconds too late.
Nunez looked to be awake by the time the broadcast cut off but he certainly looked to be a man who had taken a lot of unnecessary punishment due to some awful officiating.
For Nunez I expect a very long rest, at 24 I hope it's not the end of his career at the top level as he's fun to watch but the prolonged punishment at the end of the bout may well see his career all but done.
I'd also expect Mthalane to take a break, put his feet up and watch, with the rest of the world, as Brian Viloria and Hernan Marquez battle in a unification at Flyweight. I can only assume that Mthalane will be looking at the winner of that bout as his #1 target for next time out, maybe even on a major show in the US.
The bout started excellently for the champion who dropped the challenger with a single shot in the opening round. Although Nunez recovered to his feet he took a shelling to end the round and it appeared as if we were going to have a very early night on our hands as the champion couldn't miss. The champion again had the better of the action in the following round as he blocked most of Nunez's attacks and landed some picture perfect counters that appeared to shake the challenger time and time again.
In round 3 the bout took a total 180 and Nunez's relentless aggression was rewarded as he dropped the champion in the late stages of the round after the two men had had a tear up of a round. Nunez continued his onslaught successfully in the following round as he leveled the scores on my card at 37-37. Mthalane was forced mostly to cover up doing the 4th as Nunez went hell for leather looking to end the bout early.
At the start of the 5th it was Mthalane looked ragged as he swung and miss and it seemed as if South African boxing was going to have a nightmare of a night as Nunez kept throwing trying to again drop the champion. Although Mthalane was starting to look tired at the end of the round the challenger couldn't capitalise as the tempo of the fight started to drop after a crazy start.
Round 6 was the most nip and tuck of the rounds with both men having solid spells but neither man really standing out, though it was obvious that Nunez was on the verge of punching himself out. His crisp aggressive punching had started to look less crisp, his defense had started to look more porous and whilst it was the challenger bringing the fight it was also the challenger being tagged the harder. The following round saw Mthalane regain control of the bout against a visibly tiring Nunez who was starting to look incredibly inefficient as Mthalane snapped his head back and forced him backwards. It appeared as if the talented South African was about to take the fight down the stretch anticipating that Nunez would wear himself out.
The end of the bout came in round 8 with Mthalane taking advantage of Nunez's slower hands and lower work rate, everything the champion was throwing was landing and snapping the head of the challenger back. A single show seemed to hurt the challenger and the champion pounced unleashing a flurry, this had Nunez in trouble and trying to run across the ring to freedom. Mthalane refused to let his pray go and unleashed one of the most devastating and prolonged attacks you will see in a boxing ring this year as he volleyed a none stop combination to the head of Nunez. The referee stood idly by as Nunez took 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 clean blows, the referee seemed to want to give the challenger every chance but the fight was done as he kept watching on 13, 14,15,16 Mthalane wasn't going to stop until the referee called the bout. Nunez's unconscious was draped between the ropes by the time the referee had seen enough and finally stepped in several seconds too late.
Nunez looked to be awake by the time the broadcast cut off but he certainly looked to be a man who had taken a lot of unnecessary punishment due to some awful officiating.
For Nunez I expect a very long rest, at 24 I hope it's not the end of his career at the top level as he's fun to watch but the prolonged punishment at the end of the bout may well see his career all but done.
I'd also expect Mthalane to take a break, put his feet up and watch, with the rest of the world, as Brian Viloria and Hernan Marquez battle in a unification at Flyweight. I can only assume that Mthalane will be looking at the winner of that bout as his #1 target for next time out, maybe even on a major show in the US.
Mario Rodriguez v Nkosinathi Joyi
Have we just had the upset of the year by Super Mario?
Unheralded Mexican tough man Mario Rodriguez (15-6-4, 11) may not have the best of records on paper but he has arguably just scored the upset of the year as he became the first man to stop the very talented Nkosinathi Joyi (22-1-0-1, 15) and claimed the IBF Minimumweight title.
Whilst only the hardcore boxing fans had heard of Nkosinathi Joyi they respected the South African. Not only was he unbeaten but he appeared to have it all, he was a great puncher, very fluid, great movement, technically sound and with superb stamina. He had beaten a relative who's who in his previous 23 bouts including the likes of Katsunari Takayama, Raul Garcia, Sammy Gutierrez and Florante Condes. His travels to Mexico to face Rodriguez wasn't meant to see usurped, it was instead supposed to be a chance to show case his skills outside of his homeland.
In the early rounds things went well for Joyi who was using his boxing ability to keep the tough Rodriguez at range. Whilst Rodriguez was pressuring and landing punches himself it was clear that Joyi was winning the rounds with his better movement, better shots and superior power. As the rounds went on however Rodriguez was gradually getting closer, cutting the distance and having more success. Every round it seemed that Rodriguez was doing better whilst Joyi was starting to wilt.
Things started to swing Rodriguez's way in round 5 as he started to connect with more success. Joyi wasn't being particularly bothered by any single shot, and was still possibly doing enough to claim the round but it was much closer than the previous ones. Round 6 continued the swing with Rodriguez now starting to grind down the champion. Whilst Joyi was still landing the better shots he was starting to get hit more himself by a challenger who refused to be swayed from his game plan.
At the start of the 7th round Joyi's shorts had really lost their sharp, crisp snap and he was starting to look tired. The pressure from Rodriguez was starting to pay off. Then, almost out of nowhere, Rodriguez seemed to wobble Joyi, the challenger went in for the kill and Joyi dropped to his knees where he remained until the referee was done with his count.
As the new IBF champion Rodriguez has a number of options. He could offer a rematch to Joyi, he could attempt to lure the winner of the upcoming WBO title bout between Ivan Calderon and Moises Fuentes into a unification or he could look to moving up.
For Joyi however the future is perhaps more limited. He has suffered long bouts of inactivity, his first trip abroad has been unsuccessful and he currently has little to no bargaining power so he will almost certainly need to travel for a fight of note (unless he wishes to face fellow South African Hekkie Budler for the IBO title). I'd expect however that Joyi, at 5'6" will have been struggling with to make the 105lb weight limit so perhaps the most likely outcome is that Joyi moves to either Light Flyweight or even Flyweight to allow his body the freedom to grow.
Whilst most boxing fans will not be aware of just how big of an upset this, it's genuinely huge and on par (at worst) with Sonny Boy Jaro's victory over Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.
Unheralded Mexican tough man Mario Rodriguez (15-6-4, 11) may not have the best of records on paper but he has arguably just scored the upset of the year as he became the first man to stop the very talented Nkosinathi Joyi (22-1-0-1, 15) and claimed the IBF Minimumweight title.
Whilst only the hardcore boxing fans had heard of Nkosinathi Joyi they respected the South African. Not only was he unbeaten but he appeared to have it all, he was a great puncher, very fluid, great movement, technically sound and with superb stamina. He had beaten a relative who's who in his previous 23 bouts including the likes of Katsunari Takayama, Raul Garcia, Sammy Gutierrez and Florante Condes. His travels to Mexico to face Rodriguez wasn't meant to see usurped, it was instead supposed to be a chance to show case his skills outside of his homeland.
In the early rounds things went well for Joyi who was using his boxing ability to keep the tough Rodriguez at range. Whilst Rodriguez was pressuring and landing punches himself it was clear that Joyi was winning the rounds with his better movement, better shots and superior power. As the rounds went on however Rodriguez was gradually getting closer, cutting the distance and having more success. Every round it seemed that Rodriguez was doing better whilst Joyi was starting to wilt.
Things started to swing Rodriguez's way in round 5 as he started to connect with more success. Joyi wasn't being particularly bothered by any single shot, and was still possibly doing enough to claim the round but it was much closer than the previous ones. Round 6 continued the swing with Rodriguez now starting to grind down the champion. Whilst Joyi was still landing the better shots he was starting to get hit more himself by a challenger who refused to be swayed from his game plan.
At the start of the 7th round Joyi's shorts had really lost their sharp, crisp snap and he was starting to look tired. The pressure from Rodriguez was starting to pay off. Then, almost out of nowhere, Rodriguez seemed to wobble Joyi, the challenger went in for the kill and Joyi dropped to his knees where he remained until the referee was done with his count.
As the new IBF champion Rodriguez has a number of options. He could offer a rematch to Joyi, he could attempt to lure the winner of the upcoming WBO title bout between Ivan Calderon and Moises Fuentes into a unification or he could look to moving up.
For Joyi however the future is perhaps more limited. He has suffered long bouts of inactivity, his first trip abroad has been unsuccessful and he currently has little to no bargaining power so he will almost certainly need to travel for a fight of note (unless he wishes to face fellow South African Hekkie Budler for the IBO title). I'd expect however that Joyi, at 5'6" will have been struggling with to make the 105lb weight limit so perhaps the most likely outcome is that Joyi moves to either Light Flyweight or even Flyweight to allow his body the freedom to grow.
Whilst most boxing fans will not be aware of just how big of an upset this, it's genuinely huge and on par (at worst) with Sonny Boy Jaro's victory over Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.
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