Roarke “Razor” Knapp won’t just be too sharp for Brandon “Fast Guns” Thysse on Saturday night but will slice him apart within the scheduled 12-round distance.
That prediction was made by Knapp’s manager, Marco Luis, whose charge will oppose Thysse in the final of Sole Survivor — Golden Gloves Promotion’s two-legged series — at Emperors Palace.
The winner between these ring gladiators, who will be meeting for the third time in their careers, is guaranteed 60% of the R1.2m purse money.
“This will be the highest of the highest-stakes domestic tournaments in recent years,” said Nivi Grogor, the new director and majority shareholder of Golden Gloves.
The boxers each earned R300,000 in November when Knapp defeated Kagiso “The Reptile” Bagwasi and Thysse beat Shervantaigh “SK” Koopman in the semifinals.
Roarke never had a chin. He was down three times against John Bopape, three times against Christiano Ndombassy, three times against against Jorge Garcia Perez and twice against against Barkay Samake
— Damien Durandt, Brandon 'Fast Guns' Thysse's trainer
“Roarke will win well. I don’t think it’s going to be a close fight; I think we will stop Brandon. The chin he had is gone; easy night’s work,” said Luis.
Thysse’s manager, Damien Durandt, said: “Roarke never had a chin. He was down three times against John Bopape, three times against Christiano Ndombassy, three times against Jorge Garcia Perez, and twice against Barkay Samake.”
Thysse stopped Knapp in the seventh round in 2019, with Knapp avenging that loss by a split-points decision in 2022.
The two boxers are evenly matched. Both have 19 wins. Thysse has 13 knockouts against four losses (two by KO) and a draw, while Knapp has 14 knockouts against three losses (all by KO) and a draw.
Thysse’s younger brother, Bryan Thysse, will defend his SA light heavyweight belt against his blood cousin, Gerhard Thysse, in the same tournament.
Other siblings who fought and defend their world titles in the US on the same night are the identical American twins, Jermall and Jermell Charlo.
Jermall successfully defended his WBC middleweight title against Sergiy Derevyanchenko via a unanimous decision, while Jermell defeated Jeison Rosario to unify the WBA, WBC and IBF junior middleweight titles on the same card on September 26, 2020.
There will be three more bouts, and action will begin at 7pm.
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