Christodoulou on Thysse’s victory: It was a fair and right call

The veteran boxing official Stan Christodoulou has carried one simple phrase with him throughout his distinguished career:  “One punch too soon, one punch too late – save a fighter for another day”.

That saying must have been embedded in experienced boxing referee Jaap van Niewenhuizen’s mind when he counted Boyd Allen out in the dying seconds of the third round of the 4@War junior-middleweight final against Brandon Thysse at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.

The 26-year-old Thysse (14-2-1) emerged as the overall winner of the junior-middleweight shootout, walking away with the lions’ share of a R750 000 purse (60%), a commemorative diamond ring and the WBA Pan-African and IBO All-Africa belts around his waist.

The bout headlined an impressive Golden Gloves’ five-fight Back4Battle card in a bio-secure, empty arena at the casino resort east of Johannesburg, the first tournament since the sport was abruptly halted by the coronavirus pandemic in March.

After a number of warnings directed at Allen from referee Van Niewenhuizen for holding in what up to that point had been a scrappy fight which would have horrified most boxing purists, Thysse eventually freed his arms deep into the third, and rocked Allen’s head back with a vicious left hook which buckled his legs.

Allen regained his feet to take the mandatory standing eight count, but Van Niewenhuizen rightfully, and much to the Allen camp’s disenchantment it seemed, counted him out as both his arms were still resting on the top rope.

There was a contention in some quarters that Van Niewenhuizen may have stopped the fight prematurely, but Christodoulou disagrees. “I saw nothing wrong and it appeared to be the right call,” commented Christodoulou, who was on duty as the fight supervisor and confirmed he had received no official complaints.

“The referee could see from close-up and when he waved it off, he was justified to do so, his (Allen’s) arms were still on the ropes. Jaap (Van Niewenhuizen) saw his head jerk back violently and felt the fighter was in poor condition, so he continued to count him out. It was a judgement call, strictly in the hands of the referee and he is in a better position than any of us to see.”

Clearly 31-year-old Allen could have suffered further damage and one cannot fault the third man in the ring in this instance.

“It was very fair. The first concern is always the boxers’ well-being and Jaap is a very experienced referee,” added the International Boxing Hall-of-Fame inductee.

In the main supporting bout, Rourke Knapp (11-9-1-1) comfortably sewed up third place in the 4@War junior middleweight shootout with a second-round technical knockout victory over Tristan Truter.

In the only bout on the five-fight card that went to the scorecards, Lebo Mashitoa (9-8-1) out-boxed Keaton Gomes (9-7-2) to earn a unanimous points decision (100-89, 99-90 an 97-92) in the first semi-final of a cruiserweight shootout.

Sebastiaan Rothmann’s bright up-and-coming welterweight prospect, Jabulani Makhensi (10-0), dispatched the vastly more experienced DRC-born Eric Kapia (27-22-3-2) via a first round TKO and strapped the WBA Pan-African belt around his waist.

Super-middleweight Cowin Ray (6-0) made a successful return to the ring after a lengthy period of inactivity due to personal issues, with a clinical second round knockout victory over Karabo Mokapi (6-2-4).

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