Jacques van der Westhuyzen

By Jacques van der Westhuyzen

Head of Sport


WATCH: Referee, corner cushion, thin air can all get it, as boxer loses bearings

After knocking his opponent through the ropes the seemingly concussed boxer turns on the referee.


Boxing fans were left stunned, traumatised and concerned after South African boxer Simiso Buthelezi was left punching at an invisible opponent in a fight in Durban at the weekend, after seemingly losing his bearings.

After knocking his real opponent, Siphesihle Mntungwa, through the ropes in the 10th round of their World Boxing Federation African lightweight bout, Buthelezi seems to lose sight of the knocked out man and he instead focuses on the referee and corner cushion. He then starts throwing punches – at thin air.

Buthelezi swings at nothing until the referee stops the fight. Mntungwa was later declared the winner by TKO.

Watch the footage here:

According to sportbible.com, who quoted boxing expert Tim Boxeo, Buthelezi is in a stable condition.

“Sources share that Simiso Buthelezi is currently in stable condition in South Africa and in the next few days more will be learned as to what could have potentially caused a very scary and odd response in the ring,” said Boxeo.

According to The Sun, Buthelezi was put into an induced coma after the fight.

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