Golden Gloves

Whatever your affiliations, I hope “Power and Pride” was as thrilling for you as it was for me.

Seeing Flo Simba lose for the first time was massively disappointing, but in the cold light of day I realise it was no bad thing. In fact, it was little more than a hiccup.

Had he been overwhelmed or savagely knocked out, I would have thought differently. The truth is that he was in the fight right until the end, giving as good as he got, but he became careless, dropped his guard and paid the price. That’s the story of boxing.

He’s just 21 and still learning. Provided he absorbs the lessons, he will go on to claim his place in heavyweight lore. Of that I have no doubt.

The really gratifying thing is that no-one has suddenly stopped supporting Flo because he lost. His fans are smart and they knew it would be a tough fight. They’ll be back for his next one, which will be on the “Blockbuster” show in September.

Please understand, I’m not indifferent to my fighters being beaten. After 30 years I’ve learned to take the rough with the smooth.

I was ringside when Lennox Lewis was blown away by Oliver McCall, I was there when Hasim Rahman stopped Corrie Sanders and I was there again when Rahman put Lennox’s lights out in SA.

It taught me two things: you can always come back – even to claim a championship – and I probably shouldn’t go to the big fights!

The closest parallel for what happened against Francois Botha is probably Charlie Weir. Early on in his career, he was stopped by Joseph Hali in five rounds in a major upset. He stumbled again against Tap Tap Makhathini, but he came back and eventually fought one of the greats in Davey Moore for the world light-middleweight championship.
There are many examples.

Dingaan Thobela was knocked out by Geoff McCreesh, but he came back to claim the WBC super-middleweight crown. Perhaps the best example of all is Manny Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound king: he was knocked out twice, but is now revered as one of the greatest of all time.

The lesson is that good fighters can, and do, come back.

Incidentally, I had no issue whatsoever with the refereeing or the stoppage. I thought it was spot-on.

What pleased me is that Flo more than held his own, plus Botha very graciously gave him kudos afterwards. He praised him as an exceptional talent and predicted he would become heavyweight champion. For a man of Botha’s stature, who has fought them all, those words carried real weight.

As for Botha, he’s a great credit to the game. He trained hard and wasn’t there purely for the payday. He might lack the snap of his earlier days, but he’s a true professional whom I enjoyed working with.

You can read elsewhere on goldengloves.co.za what my plans are for him come November.
Thanks for checking in.