Golden Gloves

Golden Gloves Promoter Rodney Berman today reflected on what he calls an “eye-opening trip to the United States”, following bouts in which three of his fighters were in action. “Look, I never saw the WBC Silver world bantamweight title bout between Tshifhiwa Munyai and Cristian Esquivel in Mexico but according to the majority of reports, our guy (Munyai) was robbed of winning the crown and I find it highly laudable that WBC President Jose Sulaiman has seen fit to recommend a rematch”

Berman did, however, attend Saturday night’s tournament in Laredo, Texas and was moved to say that while his co-promoted South Korean Ji Hoon Kim was handily outpointed in his vacant IBF lightweight championship shootout with Mexico’s Miguel Vasquez, the murderous hitting Kim still had a bright future ahead of him. “Kim is only 23-years-old and with patience and the correct grooming, I believe he could yet he’ll develop into a genuine world champion. Then too, Berman had words of praise for IBO world junior flyweight titleholder Hekkie Budler after his seesaw battle with experienced Mexican campaigner Evaristo Primero.

“Hekkie won a split decision its true and while numerous pundits have highlighted his lack of defence, it should be mentioned that he was in there against one of the most seasoned performers at his weight in the world. Certainly there is no way that Primero was a ‘mail order’ job, especially when you analyse who he’s fought in the past. In fact, the tenacious Mexican has swapped punches with a clutch of world beaters, like Ruben Contreras, Rafael Marquez, Johnny Tapia, Raul Martinez, Hussein Hussein and Mauricio Pastrana and has never been short in terms of determination and endeavour. Though one of Saturday night’s judges’ had Primero winning the fight, the other two marked Hekkie a clear winner by virtue of 6 points and 2 points respectively”. Berman concluded his wrap-up of the fights by adding; “Frankly Hekkie is still a work in progress and yet when you consider how far he’s come in such a remarkably short space of time, scoring 17 wins on the trot, he’s more than solidified our faith in him”.

GGP director Gary Pretorius was also at ringside in Laredo, Texas and had the following comment. “Budler has all the tools with which to mature into a first rate fighter; courage, stamina, a trustworthy chin and tremendous work ethic but I have to say that he needs to tighten up his defence. No one throws ships at rocks, now do they?”

*Meanwhile Berman and Co are in the process of structuring GGP’s September 18 tournament at Emperors Palace and the portents point to it being another fire-cracker event, with IBO world welterweight champion Lovemore Ndou headlining the bill against the marvellously talented Bongani Mwelase. Also to be featured on the forthcoming fight roster are the likes of Johnny “Hurricane” Muller, Flo “The demolition Man” Simba and Jason “Badman” Bedeman.