Once again a highly-touted prospect fell flat at the hands of a veteran when rookie Ntlantla Tyirha lost to experienced Nkosinathi Joyi at Orient Theatre on Sunday.
The defeat by the 19- year-old followed that of Uyanda Nogogo when he quit against veteran Ali Funeka two months ago.
But this time, the reigning SA junior flyweight champion fought to the bitter end in a doomed effort to add the WBO Africa crown to his collection.
Joyi, 35, stuck to basics while Tyirha attempted to impress the packed hall with flashy boxing.
This only pleased his supporters but not the judges who saw him losing a unanimous decision by scores of 118-111, 116-113 and 116-112.
The fight difference was body blows landed by Joyi, making Tyirha's offence to ebb significantly. At times Joyi simply walked down Tyirha who fought on the backfoot throughout.
His jab consistently finding the mark, Joyi was the aggressor while Tyirha’ s occasional burst of punches hardly discouraged his older foe.
There were times when Tyriha appeared ready to quit but he would will himself back to the fight. Aware that he had no answer to Joyi's body blows, Tyirha delved into clowning to sway the judges to his favour but to no avail.
The loss was the first for Tyirha in five bouts, having made history when he won the national title in the shortest period of fighting as a pro.
In a rare local bout to feature two Johannesburg boxers, Jackson Chauke and Thabang Ramagole waged a war for the vacant SA flyweight crown with Chauke finally prevailing when he dropped his foe three times in round nine to force a stoppage.
The title was stripped from Mdantsane's Thembelani Nxoshe for a doping violation.
It was a sweet victory for Chauke, especially as he was dropped hard in the first round and appeared to be headed for a defeat.
Chauke's win also erased the disappointing defeat he suffered to Lwandile Sityatha for the very same title in 2013 when his trainer Nic Durandt was still alive.
Now ushered to war by Durandt’s son Damean, Chauke regrouped after a bad fall and used his jab to neutralise Ramagole' offence before sealing the win with a dramatic finish in the ninth round.
Other results:
Mhlanganisi Sogcwayi forced Ndikho Nyembe to quit in five rounds of their junior feather weight scrap.
Lucas Mbokazi scrapped through with a majority decision over Abelo Tokwe in a junior lightweight bout...