Phillip Ndou partially agrees with Cassius “Shy Guy” Baloyi that he would have gone on to win a major boxing title, had he not bumped into a prime Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jnr.
Ranked No 1 by the Mexico-based WBC, Ndou went into that super fight boasting a scary knockout record of 30 wins in 31 fights against one loss. But it all amounted to zero against Mayweather, who dismantled the “Time Bomb” in seven rounds in the US on November 1, 2003.
Nelson Mandela – who invited Ndou for breakfast before his departure to the US – advised him to use his stabbing jab and keep Mayweather on the outside. Ndou did his best and he had a great round five but the truth is that he did not have the skills to compliment his power.
Mayweather began breaking Ndou’s spirit in round six, hitting him hard on the head and body. It came as no shock when he dropped Ndou in round seven after he repeatedly rocked his head violently with multiple right hand punches.
By the end of 2003, Mayweather was still The Ring’s lightweight champion and the No 5-ranked best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
Ndou could only win the minimal World Boxing Union (WBU) junior lightweight belt, which he captured 23 years ago via a first-round knockout of Carlos Rios.
“That fight came too soon for Phillip and it took a lot out of him; Phillip had good skills and power to take any fighter out of their game plan and he could have won major titles,” said Baloyi, who remains the only SA boxer to win six world titles in three weight divisions.
Ndou’s first successful defence of the WBU belt was against Baloyi, who became the first boxer at that time to go the scheduled distance with hard-hitting Ndou. That energy-sapping 12-rounder, staged by Golden Gloves at Carnival City, was duly voted Boxing SA’s Fight of the Year. The two boxers were bosom friends and their corners were manned by Nick Durandt and Brian Mitchell, respectively.
Ndou said: “Yes, it could be [what Baloyi said] but anything is possible in boxing. Look at our fight — a lot of people said Cassius was going to beat me up and I won the fight.
“By the way the fight against Floyd did nothing to me in terms of damage; it was my fight against Cassius that did a lot of damage to both of us because we gave it our best from round one without holding back.”
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