JOYI SHOULD WIN IBF MINIMUMWEIGHT TITLE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 23 Mar 2010
South Africa’s classy undefeated minimumweight Nkosinathi Joyi should win the IBF title when he battles champion Raul Garcia of Mexico at the International Convention Center of the Regent Hotel in East London on March 26.
The only trouble may be the fact that Joyi hasn’t fought since he won a title eliminator against former champion Florante Condes on June 26 last year by a lopsided decision completely outclassing the Filipino southpaw.
Two of the three judges scored a shutout for Joyi 120-107 while the third judge gave Condes one round for a 119-108 scorecard.
Condes himself told us on his return from South Africa that Joyi was an excellent fighter with quick hands and hit hard and believes that he should beat Garcia who won the title from Condes by a controversial twelve round split decision on June 14, 2008 in Garcia’s hometown of La Paz, Mexico.
Judge Abraham Pacheco scored the fight for Condes who scored a knockdown in the final round 115-112 while Alejandro Lopez had Garcia the winner by the same 115-112 margin. But what was seriously questioned was the scorecard of Adelaide Byrd who had Garcia the winner by a 118-110 margin which meant an 11 point difference between the scorecards of Pacheco and Byrd.
With the popularity of Joyi and the acumen of leading South African promoter Branco Milenkovic the newest venue to host big-time boxing in the country is expected to be packed for the biggest fight to be held in the city in a long time.
Boxing writer Sabelo Skiti says that with both boxers unbeaten and carrying reputations of being nig hitters Milenkovic and his colleagues expect a full house of 2,000 which is considered an unprecedented number since even the Emperor’s Casino in Johannesburg normally attracts around 1,200 to 1,300 people.
Joyi vowed at a press conference not to disappoint his hometown fans . The challenger said “I am grateful to Branco for giving me the opportunity of challenging in the country and I promise to do my best and win. I have hope on the 26th I will be the new IBF champion.” If Joyi’s performance against Condes is to be compared to Garcia’s title fight with the Filipino southpaw, then Joyi should prevail.
Milenkovic was clearly happy to return to East London where he has enjoyed success over the years handling such excellent fighters as reigning IBF flyweight champion Simphiwe Nongqayi IBF lightweight mandatory challenger Ali “Rush Hour” Funeka who was clearly robbed of the title against Joan Guzman last November 28 when the fight ended in a draw.
The rematch will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on March 27.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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