BOXING: Gavin Evans
Philip Holiday has always been the bridesmaid of South African boxing. He’s the nice fella who’s historical role is to give a brave showing before making the way for one deemed worthy, like Jan Bergman or Dingaan Thobela.
So far though, it has to be said that young Flippie, as they call him, has been oblivious to the script. While Bergman and Thobela faltered, Holiday won his IBF world lightweight title 15 months ago by bashing up the hitherto unbeaten Columbian power merchant Miguel Julio. And has since defended it four times, including a two round blowout of one of ‘greats’ of the modern game, Jeff Fenech. Twenty-nine fights, 29 wins, 16 knockouts ‘ not bad for a bridesmaid.
Like Brian Mitchell, whose style, strengths, weaknesses and body size Holiday mimics, this boy from Benoni is making a habit of rising above the confines of his natural talent.
Tomorrow night at Sol Kerzner’s Mohegan Sun Casino, on a Native American reservation in Uncasville, Connecticut, he runs up against the most formidable obstacle to his intended destiny when he tangles with the far bigger, faster, and unbeaten American, Ivan Robinson.
Once again, the official formguide, and the bookies’ odds, suggest that Holiday’s vacation is about to draw to an end. Robinson (25) is an elegant slickster from the tough Philadelphia school. He will tower over the South African, keep his educated jab on the end of Holiday’s comically upturned nose, carve up those tissue-paper brows and overwhelm him with speed and finesse. That’s how the Americans are seeing this fight, but over the years I’ve learnt not to bet against Holiday.
I first got to know him while covering Mitchell’s return with Tony Lopez in Sacramento more than five years ago. Holiday, a new professional, and another young hopeful called Lucky Lushaba, were Mitchell’s sparring partners, and the moody champion worked them mercilessly. Flippie was as game as they come, but their trainer, Harold Volbrecht, told me he thought that Lucky was real talent.
However, while Lucky swopped his wits for schoolbooks, Holiday persisted and excelled.
There was something refreshing about the naive boy hanging on to every move made by Mitchell. The more his fighting style came to resemble that of the master, the greater the distance in their personalities.
Mitchell, the son of an alcoholic father and a broken family, was a chip-on-the-shoulder hardman, driven by his own demons which kept on pulling him away from his simple fundamentalist Christian faith.
In contrast, Holiday, the youngest of six children of a blou rokkie Pentecostal woman, seemed to be without malice outside of the ring. And he has remained like that ever since.
After the army he trained as a draughtsman, turned professional and filled the time in with church meetings, recreational sport and the daily grind of professional boxing training. He did as he was told, never strayed from the path of righteousness and kept on winning.
His style in the ring, though, showed a different side ‘ a ruthlessness and degree of physical courage beyond the comprehension of ordinary human beings.
At 1,67m he is small for a lightweight and therefore had to do his work on the inside, which meant shipping a good deal of leather before he was in range. Eventually, he learnt to get his head out of the way on his way in, but along the way he absorbed some frightful punches without flinching.
Once up close, Holiday does his best work, usually built around a formidable body attack. Sometimes he lets his blows go low and never shows a hint of mercy when he has a man wounded.
His immense stamina, built up from 15 years of daily boxing training plus a steady dose of triathlons, competitive cycling, canoeing and steely abstinence from fleshpot temptations, allows him to maintain a workrate which few other lightweights can keep up with. He may not be a big-time banger, but he carries enough fire to have put away names like Julio and Fenech.
Robinson is a proposition of a different order ‘ a proven American straight out of the top drawer ‘ but Holiday appears to think he’s in for a safe ride.
‘My ambition is to unify the lightweight title by beating the champions and to be undefeated when I retire, so I’m not going to be overawed by his reputation,’ he says, ‘We’ve studied him, and I’ll do what I usually do ‘ get inside and work his body until his hands start to drop and then go for the head. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but I think I’ll take him.’
I’m going with the Benoni boy, despite the odds. Holiday may be smaller, slower and less flashy, but he’s also stronger and far more resilient.
I expect Robinson to win the early rounds, but for Holiday to start closing the gap around the halfway point and to go on to take a close decision or to win on a late-round stoppage.