Golden Gloves

There is a definite belief by several experts that Australia’s Michael Bolling will carry too much TNT in his punches for Isaac “The Golden Boy” Chilemba to handle when they square up at Emperors Palace next Saturday night (June 19). With the vacant IBO world super middleweight at stake, however, one can readily expect the 23-year-old Chilemba to give it his all and given his pedigree of 14-1 with 8 knockouts, the Malawi-born boxer will certainly not be a mail-order job for the vicious hitting Aussie, who boasts a record of 12-0 with 10 knockouts.

Respected fight columnist Peter Moscardi has been around sweaty boxing gymnasiums for decades and regularly attends the fight shows held in Gauteng. It’s therefore noteworthy that Moscardi fancies the shaven-headed Australia to lift the vacant IBO world title belt when he confronts the slightly more experienced Chilemba on the Golden Gloves Promotions “BLOCKBUSTER” event. “I was talking to Bolling and he strikes me as a fiercely dedicated athlete who truly believes in himself” said Moscardi. “Moreover after watching video footage of one of Chilemba’s previous bouts, he had a broad smile that oozed confidence. Based on what I know and seen of both fighters, I have to lean towards the southpaw Australian who carries knockout power in both hands”.

Man-about-boxing Jeff Ellis also has concerns about the Golden Boy’s chances, but gives Chilemba a great deal of credit for the way he’s matured. “Make no mistake, Chilemba can win this bout but he’ll have to establish a rhythm early in the contest and avoid toe-to-toe exchanges with his heavier hitting rival”.

Fight scribe of the 1980’s Paul Hetz has reservations about Chilemba’s spirit ‘under fire’ and feels that a tough customer like Bolling may drag the bout into an alley-brawl, thus giving him a distinct advantage over his more elegant boxing adversary.

“Chilemba is a boxer with a ‘Capital B’ and he won’t relish a war of attrition…no way! Fact is this contest will be intriguing for the first six rounds before Bolling’s heavy artillery gradually starts to grind down Chilemba, who I see falling in the ninth round”.

Elias Tshabalala, however, trains Chilemba and believes that his boxer is a special talent who’ll give the left-handed Bolling a severe beating over twelve rounds. “If it even lasts that long” grinned Tshabalala. “Southpaws are generally one-dimensional and this guy (Bolling) is obviously a brawler who steams straight ahead. We like to think that Isaac can adequately cope with that type of head-on assault and fashion points with his two-handed combinations. Yes, I’m supremely confident that Chilemba will win the title on Saturday night” concluded Tshabalala.

Manager/trainer Harold Volbrecht, who recently had the disappointment of seeing his fighter Tommy Oosthuizen have to pull out of the championship bout with Bolling because of a purported motor vehicle accident, also thinks that Chilemba will have the beating of Bolling and is hoping that the Golden Boy will then defend the title against Oosthuizen. “A bout between Tommy and Isaac would be a tremendous attraction” said Volbrecht.

*For the record: of a total 15 experts polled, 7 fancied Bolling to win, 6 were in favour of Chilemba and 2 found the contest too difficult to call.