So-called war ends in draw

IBO super middleweight champion Isaac Chilemba held onto his title in a gruelling 12 round fight against Tommy Oosthuizen at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.

Although he was the outright underdog in the betting, Chilemba was the more enterprising in the ring, but the match was declared a draw, to the surprise of his trainer Elias Tshabalala.

“I suppose it is some compensation retaining the title, but Isaac took the fight to Oosthuizen, outboxed him and won by a clear three points or more,” he said.

The match ended in a draw after the international judge awarded the IBO title to Oosthuizen on his scorecard.

This decision aside, the fight between Chilemba and Oosthuizen met expectations as a no holds barred cliff-hanger in which both boxers were warned on numerous occasions.

It brought Oosthuizen back to earth after being touted by many as world class, and showed that Chilemba was a better boxer than the pundits thought.

Oosthuizen was to have fought for the IBO belt four months ago, but was involved in a road accident. Chilemba came in as a replacement and took the title. Chilemba has been beaten only once in 16 bouts.

Golden Gloves officials have already declared a rematch as “natural”.

Earlier in the evening, the WBC International Super Featherweight title fight draw between South African champion Sipho Taliwe and the Philippines’ Vinvin Rufino had to be reversed because of a mistake on a judge’s scorecard. That result was altered in favour of Taliwe.

This fight was to have been a comeback for former junior lightweight champion Malcolm Klassen, but he had to withdraw because of a contractual dispute.

The two fights were among five on the programme billed a “declaration of war” by Golden Gloves promoters.

Congo-born, South African-based heavyweight Flo Simba recorded his seventh knock-out win in an unbeaten sequence of eight bouts, this one against Mauro Adrian Ordiales.

The fifth-round knockout showed little of Simba’s potential, as his bumbling Argentinian opponent fought in slow-motion and looked like a boxer who had long since seen his best days.

The highly-touted Jason Bedeman, however suffered the first defeat of his career in a fourth-round knockout against Argentinian Daniel Dorrego.

Bedeman was floored twice in the opening round, dominated the second and third rounds with a flurry of blows, but hit the canvas twice more in the fourth to make his exit.

In the lightweight bout of the evening, Bongani Dlamini beat Joseph Modise in a first round knock-out