Thomas ”Merciless” Mashaba showed no mercy to retain his IBO world featherweight title with a ninth-round tko victory over the United States’s two-time former champion Eric Aiken on the Lords of the Ring boxing bill at Emperors Palace on Monday night.
The match went down in the record books officially as a tko victory after referee Terry O’Connor rightly realised the severity and potentially threatening repercussions of Mashaba’s thunderous left-handed final blow.
The slick American challenger was still out cold, in a state of bewilderment and receiving medical attention five minutes after it was all over.
The manner in which Mashaba absorbed punishment and kept moving forward in one of the better fights seen in Gauteng during the past couple of years conjured up memories of the legendary Baby Jake Matlala — still looking spruce and sprightly as an avid ringside onlooker.
But, for all this, ”Pretty Boy” Aiken gave a curious curate’s-egg-like performance in which he looked more stylish in the opening round, faded in the face of Mashaba’s onslaught in the next five rounds — and then came preciously close to knocking out the South African in the sixth round.
A swinging right-hand piledriver had Mashaba looking bemused and bewildered, but good conditioning enabled him to regain his footing and then, in a stunning turnaround, take control of the remainder of the proceedings.
For all this, the end came like a flash of lightning out of a clear, blue sky, with Aiken still holding his own in the fierce exchanges before the final flurry sent him into irrevocable orbit.
Baloyi thanks the Lord
Never totally comfortable with the windmill-like perseverance and forward movement of Gairy St Clair, South Africa’s Cassius Baloyi thanked the Lord — not the promoters of the Lords of the Ring bill, mind you — when he gained a narrow 12-round revenge victory over the West Indian-born Australian in their IBF junior lightweight title eliminator.
Somewhat more spirited and less listless than when he lost to the burrowing, body-targeting St Clair in a title fight last year, South Africa’s five-time former world champion of various sorts seemed to shade what appeared a narrow points decision against a tiring opponent.
As is the norm in South African boxing, the home fighter can expect to be treated with an element of sympathy and understanding.
But while two of the judges ruled Baloyi a 116-112 winner, the third, jaundiced official must have been watching another fight on another planet, judging by his 120-108 ruling.
”Now we want Mzonke Fana,” crowed Baloyi’s trainer, Nick Durandt, referring to the South African holder of an IBF title who has seemingly been on a merry-go-round of local fighters that has included Malcolm Klassen.
And Fana’s less dour, relentless approach might well be more suited to the classical, more orthodox style of Baloyi, who clearly looks more impressive while throwing punches from a distance.
St Clair’s tactical fight from close range earned him an advantage in the early rounds, but he was unable to maintain sufficient momentum in the prevailing circumstances — and Baloyi succeeded in gaining the upper hand in what was not by any means an exposition of ”Lords of the Ring” by either fighter.
Botes buried
With ”Thomas Knight and Co” emblazoned on the back of his trunks to emphasise his affinity with the undertaking profession, Daniel ”Billy the Kid” Bruwer finally buried ageing champion Soon Botes in the 10th round to annex the South African light-heavyweight crown on Monday night.
Bruwer won on a tko decision after Botes had gone down for the second time in the 10th round and celebrated his succession to the national crown by parading round the ring in a white Stetson at the end of the fight.
”When it’s time to go, it’s time to go,” said Durandt, also Bruwer’s trainer, afterwards. ”Soon Botes has been a fine boxer and respected champion, but Daniel was simply too fast to the punch, too clinical and too precise for the old pro.”
Botes appeared to win only two of the 10 rounds and finished the fight with his face bloodied and badly cut up.
Asked by the ring raconteur after his mauling of Botes if he could have finished the proceedings earlier, Bruwer gave a wry smile, shrugged his shoulders and said: ”You don’t stay in the ring exchanging punches for the fun of it if you can get the business over any quicker.”
For all this, Botes staged a brief revival in the ninth round, much like the final whimper of a fallen stallion. But, inevitably, it proved no more than the last hurrah for the boxer who had in turn ended the career of perennial comeback king Dingaan Thobela once and for all in an embarrassment of a fight not too long ago.
As for Bruwer, Durandt said it is ”now time to look at the international market”.
”When opportunity knocks,” said the trainer, ”you’ve got to open the door and grab it with both arms.”
‘Big Daddy’ gives Cronje a hiding
Muscular South African heavyweight champion Osborne ”Big Daddy” Machimana gave a gallant and dogmatic but outclassed Pieter Cronje a mother of all hidings while retaining his South African heavyweight title with a seventh round knock-out on Monday night.
A decidedly sharper and more incisive Machimana, whose career has been given reborn status by Golden Gloves publicist Terry Pettifer since joining the stable of trainer Durandt about six months ago, toyed with Cronje in the first couple of rounds before stepping up the tempo and sending his ”sacrificial lamb” opponent to an inevitable boxing grave in the seventh round.
Golden Gloves promoter Rodney Berman has proclaimed an intention to line up an American television headliner for Machimana in February and it was essential for the towering South African champion to produce an impressive showing to improve the ratings for the critical, uncompromising fight audience in the US.
Unfortunately, it was all too easy for Machimana to showcase his talent as he pummelled his opponent with a succession of undefended left and right hooks in the seventh round.
Cronje was eventually counted out on one knee — failing to beat the count, much to the relief of all and sundry. — Sapa