Junior middleweight Brandon Thysse not only predicted he would avenge his loss to Boyd Allen but he would so by knockout.
Both of Thysse’s bold predictions came true Saturday night as he stopped the previously-unbeaten Allen in round 3 of a scheduled 12-round bout at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.
Thysse, who resides in Germiston, improves to 13-2-1, 11 knockouts and won the final of the four-fighter ‘4@War’ tournament.
The fight also headlined a Golden Gloves Promotions card, which was the first card to take place in South Africa since March 15, right before the country shut down, including sports, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Saturday’s card took place with no fans in attendance.
Thysse and Boyd won their respective bouts to face one another in the final in their last bouts on November 30, which also took place at Emperors Palace. Thysse knocked out Roarke Knapp in round 7, handing him his first loss as a pro. Allen stopped Tristan Tuter during the final round.
Both fighters first met on May 10 of last year, with Allen, a former mixed-martial-arts fighter, winning a close split-decision.
Thysse was the aggressor from the opening bell, closing the distance between the two fighters and attempting o connect with hooks and crosses to Allen’s head. Allen would side-step and attempt to counter Thysse, who eventually began to also focus his attack to the body of Allen.
Thysse continued to press the action until a left-right combination followed by a left hook that landed flush to the chin dropped Allen to the canvas. Allen did manage to beat the count, but still looked wobbly, prompting referee Jaap van Niewenhuizen to stop the fight at 2:59.
Allen, who resides in nearby Johannesburg, drops to 5-1-1, 4 KOs.
In the consolation fight of the tournament, Roarke Knapp improved to 10-1-1, 8 KOs by stopping Tristan Truter of Boksburg in round 2.
Knapp, who lives in nearby Edenvale, walked Truter down early on in the fight. About 40 seconds into round 2, a left hook wobbled Truter. Knapp trapped Truter in a corner, battering him before unloading a right hand that dropped Truter down against the ropes. Referee Simon Xamlashe immediately stopped the fight at 1:02.
Truter drops to 8-3, 5 KOs and has now lost his last two bouts.
Welterweight prospect Jabulani Makhense of Pretoria knocked out Eric Kapia in the opening round.
Makhense (10-0, 6 KOs) battered Kapia from the opening bell, dropping him three times before referee Tony Nyangiwe stopped the fight at 2:59.
Kapia, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of The Congo and now resides in Johannesburg, drops to 22-4-2, 2 KOs and has now lost his last two bouts.
Cruiserweight Lebogang Mashitoa defeated Keaton Gomes by unanimous decision over 10 rounds.
Scores were 100-89, 99-90, and 97-92 for Mashitoa, who improves to 8-1, 2 KOs. The fight was a rematch from their clash on September 21 of last year, which Mashitoa did enough to win by split-decision.
Gomes drops to 6-2, 4 KOs.
In the opening bout, super middleweight Cowin Ray (6-0, 4 KOs) knocked out Karabo Mokupi (2-4, 2 KOs) at 2:34 of the second round.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing