Several warriors hit the canvas at exciting boxing tournament in Pretoria
The South African heavyweight boxing champion celebrated his return to the ring in Pretoria on Sunday with an easy victory over an emerging South African opponent.
The organizers called Sunday’s boxing tournament at the Sun Arena in Pretoria the ‘Battle of the Warriors 2’ and for quite a few of the brave fighters the war ended when they landed flat on their backs during the action.
In fact, the judges did have an easy task at the seven-bout tournament, as only two of the results had to be determined by points-decision.
The most spectacular fight of the event, the lightweight bout between Ukrainian Vladyslav Baranov and Clement Kamanga of the DRC, was one of the two on which the judges had to decide through their scorecards.
These two men beat each other properly during the six rounds of the fight but Baranov eventually managed to win the battle narrowly with a split decision.
However, it is common knowledge that boxing enthusiasts like to see the big men in action and on Sunday there were two heavyweight battles and a cruiserweight fight on the cards to entertain spectators.
The boxers in these three fights did not disappoint and there were proper fireworks in the ring when the heavier men took each other on.
In the cruiserweight battle, the shortish Didier Nyembwe of the DRC never looked comfortable against Chris Thompson who, besides his length advantage, also looked much better conditioned than his opponent.
Thompson sent the Congolese to the canvas in the second round with some decent blows and eventually the latter had to receive medical treatment to recover.
The first heavyweight fight of the tournament did not last very long either. Joshua Pretorius, a promising young 24-year-old fighter from Richards Bay in Kwazulu-Natal, needed barely two minutes to send his opponent, Nhlanganipho Gwamanda, from Tembisa to dreamland.
Gwamanda started on an aggressive and offensive note and Pretorius even had to hear the count of eight after been knocked down very early in the battle.
However, Pretorius – also known as The Red Beast, because of his red hair – immediately recovered and fought back with a few powerful blows, which caused Gwamanda to land on his buttocks a few seconds later. Gwamanda survived the count, but he was clearly uncomfortable.
Another couple of powerful blows from Pretorius hit him and Gwamanda fell halfway through the ropes, whereafter the referee stopped the fight.
In the main battle the South African heavyweight champion Ruann Visser made his return to the boxing ring after winning his seven months long battle against the South African Institute for Drug Free Sports (SAIDS).
Although Visser won his fight against the brave Luke Sutherland quite easily with a technical knock-out in the sixth round, he later acknowledged that his performance was a bit disappointing.
Visser seemed a bit rusty. He was very static in the ring and apart from his disappointing footwork; his timing also left a lot to be desired.
According to Visser’s own testimony, the months outside the ring have claimed its toll. However, he promised his supporters that he will be back soon at the Sun Arena in Pretoria with a much better performance.
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