"The Caveman" Tyson Cave Irritates Fans in Cebu
By Carlos Costa
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 31 Jul 2011
CEBU, Philippines - Filipino contender AJ "Bazooka" Banal successfully retained his WBO bantamweight Asia-Pacific crown against an obnoxious opponent named Tyson Cave who seemed more like a pathetic clown than a real prize fighter.
Since his arrival in the Philippines, Tyson Cave not only irritated fans with his offensive trash talk, but his antics and dirty ways on the top the ring truly angered the boxing audience who paid to see a clean exciting boxing combat against local kid AJ Banal.
Instead, boxing fans witnessed how boxer Cave, no longer 'The Prince of Hali' but now nicknamed "The Caveman" for his very primitive, vulgar, ignoble and disrespectful ways, played all sort of dirty tricks during his eight round sad rumble with the more serious and pro-like Filipino warrior.
One of Cave's favorite antics was to hold and push Banal towards the canvas as if in a wrestling match.
Another ugly trick was to initiate a disorganized attack with his bald head forward, a dangerous action which opened a severe cut on the right eyebrow of Banal in the early rounds of the combat.
Indeed, Cave was a trash talker and a clown during the press conference and he was a trash fighter above the ring. However, passive referee Tony Pesons did not dare to reprimand "the caveman" nor deduct any point.
Top photo: Tyson Cave (L) who fights head first cost Banal a deep cut on the right eyebrow (below).
Banal gets the nod of the judges after the fight was stopped in the 8th round.
In fact, it seems that at times the veteran Tony Pesons lost control of the fight, allowing Cave's ugly unsportsmanlike behavior to dictate the course of the fight. That lack of character from referee Pesons, a former decorated military man, is regrettable.
At the end of the fight, the obnoxious Cave exchange insults with fans. One of Cave's gloves was thrown into the audience as his team declared to the four winds that they have been "robbed" of a victory.
Indeed that ridiculous assertion was totally false.
The scores of the three WBO judges were accurate and reflected what had occurred in the ring.
So obnoxious and irritating was Cave that even after the fight was declared over, AJ Banal wanted to continue fighting so as to teach that guy a lesson.
Of course, AJ's attitude was not the best one either. The fight was already over. However, it's understandable AJ's frustration as he has never seen anything like it. As humans sometimes we feel that there is a limit to this kind of behavior.
But the good kid AJ Banal must try to always keep his cool and calm as the gentleman that he is. As for Tyson "The Caveman" Cave, hopefully he will not be invited to fight in the Philippines ever again.
ANOTHER OPINION:
Philboxing contributing editor, physician and boxing reporter Dr. Rene Bonsubre wrote last night:
"Cave wanted the Cebuanos to remember him; this fight sealed his infamy."
Most fans at ringside could not agree more.
FINAL COMPARISON:
Just last March another Canadian, Steve Claggett, came to fight in the Philippines. Steve fought as a true gladiator. It was a hard fought battle, one that no one who was in the Waterfront could ever forget, and probably the fight of the year 2011 in the Philippines.
In the end, Canadian Steve Clagget of Calgary earned the applause and the admiration of the Filipino boxing fans and scribes.
"Caveman" Tyson Cave is a not even one tenth the brave fighter Steve Clagget was.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Carlos Costa.
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