30th July, 2015. Kempton Park, South Africa: Cruiser: Kevin Lerena (13-1) W PTS 12 Deon Coetzee (11-6). Super Light: Grant Fourie (16-7-1) W PTS 12 Warren Joubert (22-4-5). Bantam: Ludumo Lamati (6-0-1) DREW 6 Cebo Ngema (9-4-2).
Kevin Lerena vs. Deon Coetzee
Lerena wins the South African title with wide unanimous decision over Coetzee. Southpaw Lerena made a fast start shaking Coetzee in the first and second rounds. Coetzee was looking to let the storm blow itself out and then take over in the later rounds. It did not work that way. With Lerena showing good movement and a focused body attack early and then slowing his work rate and throwing single hard shots and also doing some holding to nullify Coetzee’s attacks. Lerena kept pressing and had Coetzee in trouble a few time in the late rounds as they both tired. The Harold Volbrecht trained Coetzee showed real courage and did well to last the distance in the end. Scores 117-111 twice and 118-110. The 23-year-old “Lean Machine” lost on points over ten rounds to the more experienced Johnny Muller in November and this is his second win since then. It is the first time he has gone twelve rounds and he paced the fight well. Coetzee, 29, was making the first defence of his national title. He had won his last seven fights but the opposition had not been strong but at least he kept his pride intact as he has yet to lose inside the distanced. He is the nephew of former WBA heavy champ Gerrie Coetzee,
Grant Fourie vs. Warren Joubert
Fourie saved the night for the Harold Volbrecht stable with a points win over Joubert that netted him the national title in a hard fought exciting contest. Due to injury Fourie was having his first fight for just under a year and was moving up a division but he showed no signs of ring rust. Fourie’s better boxing saw him build a lead over the early rounds but with Joubert competitive. From the eighth things changed.”Fireball” Fourie had Joubert down in the eighth from a hard right/left combination and came close to a stoppage in the ninth. Joubert did not give up but fought back hard but lost a point in the eleventh round for holding which swung things even further in Fourie’s favour and he ran out a comfortable winner. Scores 117-111, 116-110 and 114-112. The 29-year-old Fourie had been on a poor run and was 4-6 in his previous ten fights. He is the nephew of Pierre Fourie the former world light heavyweight title challenger who was unlucky enough to be around when there were some great light heavies and he lost twice on points to Bob Foster and twice on points to Victor Galindez in world title challenges. Joubert aptly nicknamed “ The Warrior” was coming up for 11 years as a pro. He had challenged for the national super feather title in 2010. After that a run of 6-1-3 in 10 fights culminated with him finally winning the South African super light title in April this year so after waiting all that time to win the title it was a pity to see the good pro only reign for just over three months.
Ludumo Lamati vs. Cebo Ngema
Hot prospect Lamati will feel robbed over this one. The highly-touted 23-year-old looked to have outboxed and outpointed the more experienced Ngema but the judges did not see it that way with two of them scoring the fight 57-57 and the other somehow seeing Ngema the winner 59-55. A big blow for Lamati who had won his last five fights by KO/TKO. Hopefully he can shake this off and rebuild. Ngema , 25 had lost a split decision to Toto Helebe for the national title in February last year.
