Dlamini not there as yet
WALTER Dlamini is certainly not the fighter people have led him to believe he is, warned the boxer ’ s trainer Manny Fernandes.
“Family, friends and fans can mislead a boxer and make him believe he has arrived. That ’ s the case with Walter, ” said a dissatisfied Fernandes after his charge laboured to a win over six rounds against Hanson Baloyi, a supposed stepping stone, at Carnival City last week.
There has been a deafening noise about Dlamini ’ s ability because he has been winning fights easily. He is undefeated after 11 fights, with six ending within the distance.
His consistency has earned him the number two spot in the middleweight ratings. Dlamini could be the number one contender in Boxing SA ’ s ratings this month because top contender Makhosonke Zwengu has just been defeated by current national champion Christopher Buthelezi.
That means Dlamini ’ s next assignment could be against the vastly experienced champion from KwaZulu-Natal. But Fernandes does not believe that his charge is ready to mix it with Buthelezi.
“Walter is far from being there,” Fernandes said.
“He is still on a learning curve. You probably saw me screaming mad at him during his fight against Hanson because he still does stupid things.
“I knew that Hanson would not defeat Walter but one thing was guaranteed – a real test. That was Walter ’ s toughest fight ever. Hanson pushed Walter to the limit.”
Fernandes made it clear, though, that the end result – a win for his charge – was welcome.
“But he ’ s not there yet. I know what I am doing with Walter. I will tell you when he is ready. I still have a lot of work to do with him,” he said.
Dlamini is a dedicated fighter with legs like tree trunks. He does not have Samson ’ s arms that could pull down the pillars of a temple, but his harrowing style of throwing leather relentlessly makes him a dangerous boxer for any opponent.
But Baloyi made him dig deep into his reserves in their closely-contested bout, which should have been declared a draw.
Two judges could well be forgiven for scoring it 58-56 for Dlamini, while their colleague was way off the mark at 59-54. Dlamini won the first two rounds but Baloyi took three and four. Dlamini reclaimed the fifth, while Baloyi finished the stronger in the sixth.
Meanwhile, Warren “The Warrior ” Joubert looked to be cruising against Mustard Mangaladza and should have won their eight-rounder with a lopsided points decision.
But one judge scored their fight a draw at 79-79, while another two aptly scored it 78-74 and 77-75.
The same thing happened when Jarred Silverman was denied a deserved unanimous points win over the same number of rounds against Stone van Aswegen. Instead, the busier Silverman had to settle for a split points decision after one judge voted Aswegen the winner.
Silverman was the busier, while Aswegen threw cleaner but fewer punches.