Golden Gloves, in association with Emperors Palace and Supersport, hosted the adrenalin-packed Triple Thunder on Saturday.
The excitement-filled fights left most of the local supporters feeling proud of their local fighters and winners who fought with confidence and determination from the very beginning.
Triple Thunder included four fights comprising of 12 rounds each.
Johnny “The Hurricane” Muller, who prior to the fight had won 13 fights, lost three and drawn two, looked strong throughout the entire fight which saw him winning against his opponent Tshepang “King Cobra” Mohale in the tenth round- taking the South African Light Heavyweight title.
This fight was seemingly the longest fight of the night; they fought a good fight indeed.
The second of the four fights was Benezer Alolod who went up against Nkosinathi Joyi for the WBC International Junior Flyweight title.
Alolod, weighing 48.56kg, held strong but by the sixth round he looked drained.
Joyi kept cornering Alolod, hitting with left and right blows, and a couple of firm low blows.
Both Alolod and Joyi kept falling and it was unclear as to whether it was due to the hits or the wet ring.
Joyi hit Alolod to the ground two minutes and 40 seconds into ninth round and he was announced the winner.
The shocker of the night was the battle for the WBC International Silver Lightweight title between Gabriel “Pitbull” Ramirez and Ryno “The Lion” Liebenberg.
All it took was one minute and 58 seconds into the first round for Liebenberg to punch Ramirez onto the ground, leaving him (Ramirez) bleeding and out.
Liebenberg was ready to step up to his opponent and indeed he did.
The WBC Cruiserweight Silver Belt bout was between Eric Fields (USA) and Ilunga Makabu (DRC).
In the first round Fields seemed to dominate with more direct punches, meanwhile Makabu analysed him and only picked up at the end of the first round.
Makabu had to look out for Fields’ right hand because Fields would put out his left hand and hit with his right hand.
Makabu started picking up in the second round giving a couple of upper-cuts and he (Makabu) cornered Fields in the third round.
Fields was bleeding in the third round and Makabu in the fourth.
One minute and 59 seconds into the fifth round Makabu took complete control and won through a knock-out.
The common element that stood out in all the fights was that all the winners never gave their opponents any time to breathe.
