Valiant effort not enough for Thysse

Alberton’s Brandon Thysse returned to the ring at Emperors Palace to challenge Primrose’s South African Junior Middleweight champion, Shervantaaigh Koopman, for the latter’s title on the undercard of the Palace Knights Box and Dine card.

In a fight scheduled for 12 rounds, Thysse gave his all but came up short, with his corner retiring him at the start of the ninth round.

Despite being sent to the canvas in the second round, Thysse came back fighting and even had the champion in trouble in the fourth.

The two continued to battle until the eighth round, when Koopman landed a big right, sending Thysse to the canvas for the second time.

While Thysse beat the count, the defending champion landed another right, which knocked the challenger’s head back, and Thysse somehow managed to see out the round.

His corner decided to call it a day, taking Thysse’s record to 15-4, while Koopman remains the champion and undefeated at 12-0.