No holding back in power bout
Courageous Dyer draws with Tissen
LEE Dyer cried out in pain when the left hook dug into his right side in the second round at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.
A former freestyle motorcross rider‚ Dyer had broken more bones than he cares to remember‚ but Alfonzo Tissen’s blow to his short rib inflicted its own brand of pain‚ as if the fist had sliced through skin‚ smashed through bone and was gripping his kidney.
“It hurt bad‚” Durban-based Dyer admitted afterwards. “It took the wind out of me‚ but my heart kept me up.”
Dyer‚ a businessman who does packaging for a toy store chain and imports copper‚ is relatively new to boxing‚ having had one amateur bout before turning professional 12 fights and a decade ago.
“This is a hobby‚” his bruised but smiling face said.
Most men would have gone down for a reprieve‚ but not Dyer‚ who was last in the ring last year when he won the South African supermiddleweight crown‚ in the 11th round beating Balemo Weliya in Queenstown. “I don’t like going down.” For a split second Dyer looked as if he were going to crumple‚ but he retreated into the ropes. Even so‚ there seemed no way to survive as Tissen rained bombs on him.
At one stage Dyer’s head briefly resembled a pear ball‚ bouncing back and forth as he got nailed by a couple of hard blows.
The referee must have been waiting for just one or two more unanswered blows before waving this one over‚ but Dyer had no intention of surrendering.
He retaliated with just enough punches to show he was still in the fight‚ and that got him to the bell.
And then he came out for the third round and he went to war with Tissen‚ who signed for this fight hoping to impress Golden Gloves promoter Rodney Berman.
That is what he did: that is what they both did. For 12 rounds Dyer and Tissen‚ a middleweight who strangely struggled to make the super-middle limit on this occasion‚ hammered each other to produce one of the most entertaining bouts seen in a South African ring in years.
They stole the show‚ overshadowing the contestants of the main bout‚ where Thabiso Mchunu easily outboxed Johnny Muller for a lopsided points win.
IBO strawweight champion Simphiwe Khonco from Mthatha and Mdantsane’s welterweight Tulani Mbenge had easy points victories too‚ both over Filipino opponents.
Konkco beat Lito Dante while Mbenge went the distance for the first time in his professional career, easily beating Jayar Inson to stretch his record to 13 unbeaten bouts.
But neither thrilled like Dyer and Tissen.
Rarely did these two warriors have to be separated for clinching‚ taking brief breathers by leaning against each other before throwing their bombs again. And just when one looked like taking control‚ the other came back.
The bout ended in a split draw after 12 brutal round. Berman has promised a rematch in October.
— Additional reportng by Mesuli Zifo