Baby Jake Matlala has shown once before that he can take care of Paul Weir, but on Saturday night he’ll also have to deal with a referee of dubious reputation
BOXING: Gavin Evans
BABY JAKE MATLALA has made a good living in recent years by beating up the best little men Britain can provide, and he figures to do the same in his return encounter with Scotland’s former two-time “world” champion Paul Weir in Liverpool on Saturday.
Not that he means any harm by it. Boxing is not a sport where niceness is at a premium, but Jake, the 1,45m slaphead from Soweto is a rarity. He’s just about as good-hearted as you get in this world; far too nice for his profession. He’s never been in a scrap outside the ring, not even in school, and there are no other boxers who can say that honestly, or would want to.
So even if you were a moderately big-hearted Scotsman, you would not wish any harm on the tiny South African. For instance, you certainly would not wish Puerto Rican referee Ismael “Wisco” Fernandez on him, though barring last minute changes of plans from the WBO, that’s the third man he’ll be getting on Saturday night.
Let me tell you a bit about the none-too-wise Wisco. Four years ago he was quoted in the San Juan Star attacking a fellow Puerto Rican official for not scoring an IBF title fight in favour of his countryman (who clearly lost), going on to say that if he were in the same position, he would always do the patriotic thing. When the Puerto Rican Boxing Commission refused to allow him to officiate because his comment suggested bias, the commission’s head, Mario Martinex, was summarily replaced by one Franscisco Valcarcel, who just happened to be both Wisco’s attorney and the WBO president.
Since then Wisco’s officiating duties have been extended. Last year he was given no less than 14 refereering assignments by the WBO (earning him around R120 000 plus expenses), while none of the organisation’s other referees was given more than four.
But the point about Wisco is not only that he’s open to allegations of bias, but he’s also outright incompetent. In the past six months I have seen him stop three fights dangerously too late, exposing the defeated boxers to the risk of serious injury or worse. But perhaps his most memorable moment came in the first Matlala-Weir fight in Glasgow last November. Weir, then the WBO’s light flyweight champion and its former mini flyweight king, was one of the golden boys in British promoter Barry Hearn’s depleted stable (and Hearn was the golden boy of all the WBO’s promoters, earning him whacks of kudos, including some pretty stinky decisions for his fighters).
But Matlala, far more experienced than the Scotsman, dished out a painful boxing lesson. By the fourth round he was bashing him around the ring to the astonishment of the home crowd, and had opened up a nasty swelling around his eye. A round later a Matlala combination sent Weir crashing to the floor and Wisco made his first eyebrow-raising decision. He ruled it a slip (saving Weir a point). Jake then stepped in and banged home five unanswered punches which opened a small, inconsequential nick under the eye.
Weir needing every trick to save his title, gesticulated he had been butted and Wisco halted the action. Then, against the advise of the doctor he stopped the fight which meant that Matlala had a point deducted and the fight went to the scorecards. If one was cynical, God forbid, one might have suspected that the intention was to save Weir’s title by default. Fortunately though, the WBO judges were straighter and more competent than the referee, but one never knows what Wisco will get up to next.
Still, all other things being equal (which they never are in boxing), Baby Jake should prevail once again, which is certainly his opinion on the subject. With all the grace he could muster he displayed his usual indomitable confidence. “I wanted the fight to be at home, but that could not be arranged, so I’m happy to fight him here because I don’t seriously think there’s any way, anywhere he could beat me. I’ve beaten many better boxers and in our first fight there was nothing he showed that made me fear him, but I’m glad we’re fighting again because after the controversy of our first fight, I want to settle the matter.”
Weir might be a kilo or two heavier, five inches taller and six years younger than the 34-year-old champion, but Jake is tougher, wilier, harder to hit cleanly and after 55 professional fights over a 16-year career, knows his way around the ring far better than the upright, stick-and-move Scot (who, astonishingly for a two-time WBO champion, is having only his 13th pro fight in four years, after a distinguished amateur career). The South African, with his peak-a-boo guard, his ducking and weaving and bobbing and his wonderfully accurate and well-timed punching, is an extremely hard man to beat, unless you can open up the ample scar tissue around his eyes.
He may not be the finest boxer in his country today, but he’s still an extraordinary little fighting machine who seems to get better and better despite long having passed the age where little boxers are meant to be either long retired or starting to talk funny.
Three years ago he first astounded the Glaswegians by knocking out their homeboy Pat Clinton for the WBO flyweight crown. But after three outstanding defences — including one against British champion Francis Ampofo in London — he surrendered it to the outstanding Mexican, Alberto Jiminez, after being weakened by a severe stomache upset. Then he dropped down in weight to beat Weir and he’s now considering dropping down another weight to challenge for the WBO strawweight (mini fly) title. Because no-one else has won three “world” titles in descending order this would be a world record (though it’s worth bearing in mind that the world of the WBO is a nasty and parochial one). There’s also talk of a unification bout with a champion from one of the more respectable (or rather less disreputable) alphabet bodies.
It all depends on whether he succeeds in Liverpool on Saturday. But if he fails, don’t cry too hard for him. He has a B Comm from Wits University, a growing little stable of businesses and a very happy family who won’t be sorry to see him retire.