IT ended with a brutal barrage of blows as Brendon Groenewald crushed Christophe Walravens in their Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) heavyweight title fight at GrandWest Casino on Thursday night.
Groenewald ended the fight half way through the first round when he connected with a flurry of blows, catching Walravens flush numerous times.
And when it became apparent that he couldn't defend himself any more, the referee stopped the fight, with Groenewald claiming a technical knock-out (TKO) victory.
“I am feeling a bit sore today. I took a couple of blows last night but I am just relieved and happy to have come through with the win,” Groenewald said.
“It was just reward for all the hard work I have put in.”
It was a surprise to many as Groenewald entered the fight as a slight underdog. His ground game was superb but there were questions around his stand up, an area in which Walravens excelled.
However Groenewald put in many hours of training and had visited East London to train with K1 legend Andrew Thompson, as well as top boxing trainers and managers Vido Madikane and Quinton Mauer to work on his stand up.
The result was a much more rounded fighter, which benefited him immensely as he surprised almost everyone when he beat Walravens at his own game.
Although not awarded the fight of the night, probably because it ended so soon, Groenewald was awarded the knockout of the night award.
“I have always known I can strike. I just haven’t often found myself in positions when I needed to, so when I got the chance, I took it,” he said.
“I received a lot of help back home from Shaun O’Connel, Vido and Quinton and Andrew Garai from Port Elizabeth, while Andrew Thompson was integral to my success as he came up with the game plan that was so successful.”
In the other main event Gideon “Juggernaut” Drotschie was completely outclassed in his lightweight title defence fight against Norman “Chef” Wessels. Drotschie was taken to the ground in every round with Wessels smothering him and dealing brutal elbows.
Having been cut early in the bout, Drotschie was put out of his misery in the fourth round when the doctor stopped the fight after his cut proved unmanageable, making Wessels the winner on a TKO.
In one of the most anticipated fights of the night Irshaad “White Tiger” Sayed defeated Abdul “Hollywood” Hassan on a unanimous points decision after the fight went the full three rounds.
It was a punishing battle that was awarded fight of the night.
Other results:
Sydney Mokgolo defeated Chad Hepbrun via split decision.
Peter Nyide defeated Boney Bukaka via unanimous decision.
Pupanga Tresor defeated Tyron Bester via KO in 0:12 in round one.
Sizwe Mnikathi defeated Anthony Mailer via split decision.
Luke Michaels defeated Regis Muyambo via TKO in 4:27 into round three.
Elvis Moyo defeated Knife Didier via unanimous decision.
Champion Dalcha defeated Danie van Heerden via unanimous decision.
Bruno Mukulu defeated Shaun de Lange via split decision.
Peter Queally defeated Francois Kabulu via unanimous decision.