What was hoped to be a breakout win for Roarke Knapp quickly turned into a nightmare when he was knocked out in the third round by his Mexican opponent, Jorge Garcia Perez, on Saturday night at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
The first round of the junior middleweight 12 rounder began with both fighters jostling for position. Knapp inched forward, jabbing to the chest while Perez landed a glancing right hook. Knapp landed a right uppercut. Perez flurried to the body. Knapp knocked his opponent back to the ropes with a straight right, possibly shading the round.
Knapp continued to land his straight right in the second while Perez answered with his uppercut. The house fighter then backed the visitor into a corner where he unloaded a combination to the body and head. Suddenly, Perez tagged him with a left hook which prompted Knapp to explode and send the spray flying with another big right. The pair traded as the bell rang and one got the feeling that Knapp had a slight edge in the exchanges.
It all came crashing down in the third. Knapp went down moments after Perez landed a right uppercut in what was ruled a slip. As he got up, Perez sensed something and went after him. A terrific left hook knocked him back into a corner. Perez jumped on him. Another left hook, several left uppercuts, body shots and a final right to the head crumbled Knapp on the canvas. He got to his feet but slumped backwards into the corner in a sitting position where he was counted out at the 1:05 mark.
Jorge Garcia Perez improves to 30-4 with 25 knockouts. The power, it seems, is real. He deserves praise for an impressive victory on the road. Knapp drops to 17-2-1. This will be a difficult defeat to recover from, but he has shown tremendous resilience in the past. Time will tell.
South Africa’s other rising junior middleweight, Shervantaigh Koopman won a unanimous ten round decision over Wendy Toussaint in a fight that never really caught fire.
Shervantaigh Koopman (right) fires a punch at Wendy Toussaint. Photo by James Gradidge
Toussaint was as awkward as they come. Normally an orthodox fighter, he came out of his corner fighting in a southpaw stance, circling the ring, moving away from Koopman. No one could land a punch in the first round.
Koopman started touching him with glancing rights to the body in the second, but Toussaint doggedly kept moving away. Koopman chased, trying his utmost to land with only the occasional right hook or looping left coming back from Toussaint.
Koopman started throwing combinations in the fourth prompting more action from Toussaint who landed several right hooks before changing back to an orthodox stance. He landed a single left hook, but Koopman was busier.
Toussaint spent the fifth switching between stances while Koopman sent the sweat flying with several good rights. Toussaint threw his own right every time he switched his stance back to orthodox, but Koopman was more consistent.
In rounds six to eight Toussaint decided to settle in the orthodox stance and come forward. The change in tactics worked much better for him. He started to use his jab and found a home with a left hook-right hand combination. The pressure had Koopman looking slightly uncomfortable.
Sensing some urgency, Koopman let his hands go in the ninth and found success with combinations to the body. Toussaint was still landing a single shot here and there, but Koopman was swinging the momentum back his way.
Koopman landed a series of left hooks to start the last round. A looping right followed moments later as Toussaint got back on his bicycle.
The scores were 98-92, 96-94 and 97-93, all for Koopman. It wasn’t pretty but a win is a win.
Shervantaigh Koopman remains undefeated, moving to 14-0 with nine knockouts while Wendy Toussaint drops to 15-3.
In a battle between two former national heavyweight champions, Chris Thompson won a unanimous eight round decision over Juan Roux.
Roux was coming off a two-year injury enforced layoff and it showed. He came forward but struggled to pull the trigger against the southpaw Thompson who did everything right. He landed several straight lefts in the first and lifted Roux’s foot off the canvas with a snapping right hook.
Roux pushed him into a corner in the second, landing a single right and working the body but Thompson would hold and then fight his way out of the corner, landing the faster, crisper shots.
It was more of the same in the third with Thompson using his jab and straight left to the body. When Roux attacked with single rights, Thompson shoe-shined him and dropped in right hooks around Roux’s guard.
Roux did better in the next two rounds. He landed a big right with Thompson backed into a corner in the fourth. He managed another combination to the body later in the round followed with a left hook upstairs with Thompson on the ropes. In the fifth, Roux landed a single uppercut and a straight right moments later had Thompson holding on. That was the end of his success.
From then, Thompson just took over, landing to both the body and head of Roux who walked through some flush shots that sent the spray flying.
Thompson finished the fight in style in the final round when a looping left, followed by a right hook and another left dumped his opponent on the canvas. It was a hard knockdown but a brave Roux somehow managed to beat the count. Thompson wasted seconds when the referee was forced to order him back to a neutral corner, then jumped on Roux as the bell went.
All three judges scored the fight 78-73 in favor of Chris Thompson who is now 13-6-1 with seven knockouts. Juan Roux drops to 6-2.
Strawweight Beaven Sibanda passed his first big test, winning a unanimous eight round decision over the more experienced Siphamandla Baleni.
The switch hitting Sibanda was just a bit sharper and faster than his foe. After a tentative start, Sibanda found a home for his right hook in the third. Baleni tried to rough him up in the clinches, but Sibanda remained calm, punching with whatever hand was free.
Sibanda landed several straight lefts in the fourth which prompted Baleni to attack the body, but it wasn’t enough.
In the fifth Sibanda started working his jab, followed by combinations to the body, ending on top with the left hook. He stayed in that groove all the way to the eighth, when he punished Baleni with straight punches to the head and body while stepping around his opponent. A lead hook had Baleni holding on for the final bell.
Beaven Sibanda triumphed by scores of 77-75 and 79-73 twice and is now 7-0 with two knockouts. Siphamandla Baleni drops to 21-7-2.
Undercard Results:
Bryan Thysse KO 3 Sanele Mbatha (lightheavyweight)
Charlton Malajika W UD 6 Arnel Lubisi (bantamweight)
The card was presented by Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves Promotions.
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