Rolling with the punches

ALMOST blinding lights shine onto the cage, highlighting his adversary.

The audience is a mass of writhing shadows, screaming Andrew Caruth’s name, shouting support.

His opponent glares at him from a lowered brow. The sweat already begins to trickle down his back, from nerves, anticipation and the heat inside the enclosure.

For Andrew, this recent match was against Lucky Mavinbela at the Greyville Convention Centre.

ALSO READ: Pinetown’s Andrew pulls no punches

He made his way to the venue hours before his fight to ensure he was there in time to show support for his teammates. His match up was the antepenultimate, one of the drawcards for the evening.

His wife was also there, cheering alongside in the crowd. His children, a daughter (7) and son (1) were safely tucked in bed at home. “I don’t feel they are nearly old enough to watch or understand the fights,” said the doting dad.

The 33-year-old trains at the Pinetown-based Lion’s Den.

He knew his opponent’s fighting style before he stepped into the cage and ensured he continued to make adjustments to his own style 12 weeks before the fight.

In addition to his normal regime, he included extra bouts of cardio, strength training, a previous weak spot of his, and kick-boxing. While this was not his main style, he said it added a major benefit to him during this particular fight.

In a build up to the match, he refused to let nerves overcome him. “There were butterflies,” he said, ” but it felt more like it came from excitement and anticipation of the fight to come. The more you compete, the less nervous you seem to be before each fight.”

As the duo clashed, he was forced to make split-second changes to his fighting style, not only to secure a victory, but to save himself from serious injury.

“My opponent was far stronger,” he admitted. “I was trying to go for submissions but he would just grab and slam me. I had no choice but to ground and pound.”

“You can get a bit angry if your opponent taunts you, which is what he did. And it worked to a certain extent. I had to punish him for that a bit,” he laughed.

Two minutes into the second round his opponent’s nose was bleeding, Andrew’s pants were blood-soaked.

After five three-minute rounds, he finally overcame his opponent.

“To win felt really good. Make no mistake though, I was sore. We had a war in that cage. I finally got that belt though,” he beamed.

“I don’t enjoy hurting people but when I’m in the cage, it is a contact sport and you realise your opponent is in there to take off your head.”

As the current title holder of the SA MFC featherweight title, he will now train for his next match-up.

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