Phumelela Cafu bids to end SA boxing's drought of ‘big name' glory

TimesLIVE

17-07-2025

WBO junior-bantamweight champion Phumelela Cafu bids to push South African boxing back into the limelight when he takes on WBC counterpart Jesse Rodriguez in a unification bout in the US on Saturday night (Sunday morning SA time).
Rodriguez, a crafty southpaw who offloads his power shots at short range, is the best in the division at the moment and is the ticket Cafu needs to punch if he wants to score a long overdue shock South African victory.
The last local fighter to topple a major name in world boxing was Simpiwe Vetyeka when he dethroned WBA featherweight kingpin Chris John in 2013, sending the Indonesian legend into retirement.
Before that one had to go back another decade to when Corrie Sanders stunned Wladimir Klitschko with his speed and power to lift the WBO heavyweight title on a second round stoppage.
Klitschko, widely considered heir apparent to Lennox Lewis at the time, went on to dominate the division.
Amid those two wins across 22 years were several defeats — Phillip Ndou against American superstar Floyd Mayweather (2003), Silence Mabuza against Rafael Marquez of Mexico (2004), Moruti Mthalane and Jeffrey Mathebula against Filipino Nonito Donaire (2008 and 2012 respectively) and Thabiso Mchunu against Ukraine great Oleksandr Usyk (2016).
Defeat has been the more common outcome in these big stage bouts. There were five losses from five attempts between late 1996 and 2001, with Mexican Ricardo Lopez accounting for two, beating Morgan Ndumo (1996) and Zolani Petelo (2001).
Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines upstaged Lehlohonolo Ledwaba in 2001, Naseem Hamed had an easy night against Vuyani Bungu in 2000 and Phillip Holiday seldom looked comfortable against Sugar Shane Mosley in 1997.
It was South Africa's own Sugar, Thulani 'Sugar Boy' Malinga, who scored one of the sensational victories of the 1990s when he edged Briton Nigel Benn by split decision in early 1996, but even he went down to two other superstars.
Malinga lost a split decision to Chris Eubank, another British box office draw, in 1992 and was stopped in six rounds by Roy Jones junior in 1993.
In early 1991 Brian Mitchell, holder of the WBA junior-lightweight title, drew with IBF champion Tony Lopez in a unification bout. He beat Lopez in a rematch later in the year with only the IBF belt at stake.
Gerrie Coetzee scored arguably the highest profile win of the 1980s when he stopped Michael Dokes for the WBA heavyweight crown in 1983, when it counted as 50% of the championship. He was also impressive when destroying former world champion Leon Spinks in one round in 1979.
Kevin Lerena takes on Lawrence Okolie in London, also on Saturday night, with the winner likely to be thrust into world heavyweight title contention.
Victory for Lerena would give him the opportunity to fight for a spot on the list of South African giant slayers.
Peter 'Terror' Mathebula lifted the WBA flyweight title in 1980, while Harold Volbrecht was stopped by hard-hitting WBA welterweight king Pipino Cuevas earlier that year.
In 1973 Arnold Taylor scored his sensational 14th round knockout of Mexican Romeo Anaya to win the WBA bantamweight title, and in 1950 Vic Toweel ground down veteran Manuel Ortiz to land the undisputed world bantamweight crown.
South African fans had to wait 23 years between the triumphs of Toweel and Taylor. The drought since Vetyeka's 2013 victory until now is the second-longest in South African boxing.