OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.00am.
DESPITE a bad start, South African middleweight champion Giovanni Pretorius won on points on Tuesday night in his eight-round bout against Russian Roman “Rauf” Babaev, at the Carousel north of Pretoria.
The Russian came out well prepared in the first round, landing a heavy left-right-left combination early on, and later landing a left hook to the jaw just before the bell.
But any anxiety the early minutes may have provoked in “Shosholoza’s” corner was soon dispelled as Pretorius took command of the fight, twice landing solid blows to Babaev’s head with his right in round three.
The fight was only to go half its course however, as a fourth round uppercut from Pretorius cut Babaev badly above his left eye, forcing ref Wally Snowball to stop the fight after consulting the ring doctor.
Pretorius adds the victory to his fight record of 23 stoppages, a draw and one loss in 27 fights. Before this bout, he was rated number four by the International Boxing Federation and seven by the World Boxing Association.