OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 11.00am.
DINGAAN THOBELA blew his much-hyped big comeback at Nasrec on Wednesday night, fighting to a draw with Argentina’s Carlos Baldomir.
The scores were 115-113 to Baldomir, 116-112 to Thobela and 114-114.
It was not a sparkling performance for the South African, who simply did not show the dynamism required to impress the crowd in the Mike Segal Promotions show.
The presence of World Boxing Confederation heavyweights including president Jose Sulaiman proved a useless catalyst for a Thobela, who rarely unleashed the kind of sparkling combinations that were once a trademark, and who seemed much of the time to be holding himself back.
Baldomir worked harder, trying to work his way inside Thobela’s defensive tactics, but made little headway. He was rocked by three left hooks from Thobela in the eighth round, but refused to go down.