Fourie crowned SA welterweight champ in humdinger

It was another no-love-lost belter between the corners of two of the country’s top boxing trainers, at the Young Guns tournament.

Harold Volbrecht trainee Fourie got the better of Colin Nathan student Joubert, in their absorbing 12-round bout, which went the distance on Thursday.

Sparks usually fly when boxers from the Volbrecht and Nathan camps clash, as the high-profile bout between Tommy Oosthuizen and Ryno Liebenberg, earlier this year, testified to.

And, the two proud trainers didn’t disappoint at Emperors Palace, either, as Fourie and Joubert produced the fight of the night and one of the best we will see this year.

The fight came to life in round five, when both boxers exchanged fist combos, with neither backing off.

There was little separating the two in the early rounds, before challenger Fourie caught Joubert with a powerful right in the gut that floored the champion in the eighth.

But the champion recovered and mastered combinations of his own, which kept Fourie on the back foot for lengthy periods, as the closely-contested battle kept onlookers entertained.

Joubert lost a point in the 11th for holding, which proved to be a major key point as the 12 rounds failed to produce a winner.

The three officials scored the bout 117-111, 116-110 and 114-112.

* Lerena overpowers Coetzee

The night saw two championships change hands as Kevin ”KO Kid” Lerena wrestled the SA Cruiserweight belt away from Deon ‘Big D’ Coetzee.

Lerena began like a house on fire and forced the champion to lose his footing as early as the first round, with a well-connected punch.

A reeling Coetzee encouraged Lerena to go on a relentless attack as he looked for the early knockout, but Coetzee weathered the storm.

Lerena continued to look for the early knockout with his powerful blows, which Coetzee struggled to deal with. Big D gradually turned it into a contest in the middle and latter rounds, with both fighters looking increasingly tired.

Like most boxing events, the clash was accompanied by random comments from the crowd, with one onlooker shouting: “Come on Kevin, give us an early night and knock him out boy, I’ve got work tomorrow!”

However, the bout petered out and went the distance, with scores of 117-111 on two cards and 118-110 on the last, crowning Lerena the new SA cruiserweight champion.

* DJ too good for Thabo

DJ Kriel outclassed Thabo Moabi after five rounds of their junior flyweight clash.

Moabi enjoyed the better start, with his upfront stance forcing Kriel to backtrack with the latter seemingly feeling out his opponent.

However, Kriel abruptly curtailed Moabi’s early ascendancy with a surprising blow in the second round which left him disorientated.

This proved to be the turning point.

Moabi lost a point in the third for holding, as Kriel began to take over with his well-timed punches and clever movement, and never looked back.

With the pattern of the bout becoming increasingly lopsided in Kriel’s favour, the referee decided to stop the fight after two minutes and 47 seconds, in round six, to hand Kriel a convincing TKO victory.

Other results:

Fernado Rodrigues defeated Christiaan Okeke via unanimous decision.

Lodumo Lamati and Cebo Ngema fought to an entertaining draw, with the judges’ scores reading: 57-57, 55-59, 57-57. – @SabeloBoksburg