There were anxious moments in Lwandile Sityatha’s camp when the boxer vomited heavily just moments before his crucial IBO world junior bantamweight title clash at East London’s Orient Theatre on Saturday night.
With seconds ticking before Sityatha was ushered into the ring, he started vomiting in the ante-room sparking his promoter Ayanda Matiti to call in a doctor to attend to him.
The Mdantsane boxer finally recovered, but the consequences of the illness was evident in his performance in the ring against Filipino Michael Desmarinas when he faded badly towards the end.
The judges’ scorecards were all over the place with one seeing the Filipino’s late surge as enough to hand him the victory with a 118-110 margin.
He was overruled by his colleagues who saw Sityatha retaining his crown with a 116-112 score twice.
But the fight was much more closer than reflected by the judges with both boxers taking turns to land telling blows.
Sityatha got off to a perfect start as his bodywork had the Filipino retreating for much of the first three rounds.
While he initiated the attack, Sityatha often left himself open to counters making all his hard work mount to nothing as Desmarinas returned everything coming his way.
Fighting from a southpaw stance, Desmarinas relied heavily on counters but when Sityatha began to fade in the championship rounds, the visitor took control of the proceedings with his swings easily finding the target.
Sityatha complained to his corner that his hands could not move and his body temperature was high.
“I feel very hot and my hands cannot move,” he was overheard saying.
With concerns written all over Matiti’s face, the fighter was advised not to mix with the free-swinging Filipino but with Sityatha’s penchant for trench wars, he was easily drawn back to the slugfest.
But he could not match the Filipino’s punch output and when he was nailed by a swinging left hook, spectators implored him to hold.
The sound of the bell to end the fight came as a relief to his corner and the announcement of the outcome sparked wild celebrations by his handlers.
In another clash, Xolani Mcotheli graduated from a fringe fighter to a serious contender when he shut out hard-punching Filipino Marbon Bodiongan to claim the vacant IBO Intercontinental junior lightweight crown.
Mcotheli boxed a brilliant fight – possibly the best performance of his career.
Scores were 120-108, 119-109 and 119-111 to underline his dominance.
Thabiso Moorosi once again came short against Luyanda Mvula in their SA junior flyweight title clash when their bout bizarrely ended in the 11th round with the Free State boxer suffering cramps in his legs while he was ahead on points.
Moorosi surrendered the crown to Mvula – only caught with a single punch in the seven rounds that he was leading on points.
He appeared to be in control again after that and even floored Mvula in the 10th round.
But just when he the bell sounded to signal the start of the 11th round, Moorosi suddenly could not stand up.
Pointing to the referee that he could not get up, Mvula seized the opportunity to corner him, forcing the fight to be waved off.
The outcome was announced as a technical knockout victory for Mvula.
Other results: Sithembiso Faye W Thembelani Maphuma (IBO Africa junior bantamweight title); Tsiko Mulovhedzi TKO 6 Mziwoxolo Ndwayana (SA welterweight title).