‘Baby Beast’ fails to walk the talk after his show of bravado

History tells us that overconfidence is dangerous for any athlete, and the sport of boxing has been particularly instructive in this regard.

Former African Boxing Union junior-lightweight champion Keith “Baby Beast” Nkosi learnt the hard way that cockiness can be a boxer’s own worst enemy after he was roped-a-doped in a unanimous points defeat by unknown Michael Mokoena.

“I was overconfident and relaxed at the same time,” said Nkosi, who is a potential star of this generation.

Nkosi and Mokoena fought at lightweight. Nkosi suffered his third defeat against nine wins while Mokoena remained undefeated after three bouts at Turffontein Racecourse last Friday night.

Nkosi and his management took the fight against Mokoena because they were confident of an easy win, following a first round stoppage victory against tough Tanzanian Hamis Gulaka last month.

But trainer Colin Nathan made it clear that he did not prepare Nkosi for the fight last Friday and he did not even attend it because of his wife’s poor health.

“My assistant – Vusi (Mtolo) – trained Keith,” said Nathan.

Mokoena, who is trained by Anton Gilmore, is a capable fighter but he is still an unknown entity.

Nkosi says he will now go down to the junior-lightweight division.

Osborne “Big Daddy” Machimana stopped Nsitu Mbaya, the Gauteng-based Congolese, in the fourth round of their heavyweight bout, in Machimana’s second win of his comeback. The former SA heavyweight champ had been inactive since 2013 but made an impressive comeback in July when he blew away Nsitu’s homeboy – Mugabon Mudimba.

Machimana is now under new management of trainer Michele Castellan and manager Kathy Deftereos.

In the main bout last Friday Rofhiwa “War Child” Maemu retained his Gauteng featherweight title after stopping Bongani Siwisa in the fourth round. They were fighting for the second time.

Maemu outpointed Siwisa over eight rounds in July.