World championships are often won in moments. For newly crowned WBO super flyweight boss Phumelele ‘Truth’ Cafu, the defining moment of the fight came at the end of the seventh round.
Boxing for the first time outside his native South Africa, the first-time world title challenger from East London had champion Kosei Tanaka on the canvas in the fifth round at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Monday night. But the four-division titleholder, whose only previous loss was to fellow multi-division titleholder Kazuto Ioka almost four years ago, drew on his experience to settle into his groove and looked to be regaining control of the match have five rounds to go.
Then something changed. With the fight hanging in the balance, Cafu’s trainer Colin Nathan reminded him between rounds what he was really fighting for.
“You give him too much f-king respect,” Nathan says. “All that crap about wanting to buy your mother a house. You let him take it away from you.”
It was exactly the type of rev-up Cafu needed. The challenger dug deep, and while Tanaka remained tough, it was Cafu who found a little more time and won a split decision with scores of 114-113 (Phil Austin), 113-114 (Jesse Reyes ) and 114-113 (Waleska Roldan).
Coach Nathan, who just two days earlier saw his IBF junior flyweight titleholder Sivenathi Nontshinga outboxed and stopped in nine frames by Masamichi Yabuki at Aichi Sky Expo in Aichi, Japan, explained the reason behind his motivational speech.
“In round eight he came out galvanized,” Nathan told The Ring. “Words can create emotion and galvanize a warrior. Because boxing is such a mental sport, I think tonight was won on the mentality, not the physicality, because Cafu was also tired in the last round, but he showed a lot of grit and bit the mouthpiece hard.
“You have to say the right things at the right time to trigger the right emotion and mentally fire up the fighter, and then obviously that leads them to physicality.”
It was a moment Joe Goosen would be proud of. The American trainer famously told Diego Corrales, after he peeled himself off the canvas twice in the 10th round of his first fight against Jose Luis Castillo, “You’ve got to f-king get in on him now.” Corrales did just that, stopping Castillo in the same stanza.
Cafu was overcome with emotion when the scorecards were read out.
“Yeah bro, it kind of hit me,” Cafu told The Ring shortly after the fight. “It’s crazy, we’ve been dreaming of this moment for so long and now it’s here. I didn’t even know what to say when they interviewed me because I was so excited, I was over the moon. I still am, because it doesn’t sit well with me being a world champion. Not because I didn’t believe in myself, but when you grow up watching world champions, you think it’s beyond your reach. You know you can get it, but at the same time it seems impossible because you’re still working up. Today I made it possible, and that is why I say I want to unite the division. It may seem impossible at the moment, but who knows what could happen in the future.”
The undefeated Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs) was always going to be dangerous with the left hook, but it was the right hand that did just as much damage, with that punch dispatching Tanaka (20-2, 11 KOs). to the canvas in the middle of the fight.
“I know I have a strong left hook, but the truth is, I have power in both hands,” Cafu said. “I was looking for the left hook, but I didn’t quite catch him with it. I caught him with the right hand and I thought he was gone. When I went for the finish I could see he was still there so I didn’t want to risk it and go all out. I didn’t want to end up on the canvas as well, so I had to play it cool and keep my cool.
“It feels good. Tanaka is a four-time world champion. He is an elite fighter. Beating him also makes me an elite fighter. I am quite grateful. His resume says it all, 21 fights coming into this fight with only one loss, so yeah man, I’m one of the best right now.”
No one was more pleased with the result than Nathan. He knew he had a talented boxer on his hands, but Cafu gave up a lot of experience to Tanaka, who had almost as many world title fights as the challenger had in his entire career.
“I was very confident going in,” Nathan said. “I knew it would be a hard fight. I thought after the knockdown we would get a lot more momentum, but Tanka has the heart of a fighter. He kept coming and coming.
“We were prepared. It was a tough camp, but I was very confident going in because I knew I had the right fighter with the right game plan and the right mentality going in.
“Because he’s young and he’s never been that deep, I think he’ll be a better fighter for it. I think he will develop more. I still don’t think he’s the finished product, he still has a lot to work on. But I just think he showed he can dig deep.
“He showed a lot of character, a lot of heart, a lot of will and desire. He really wants to improve his life. And I also kept driving home the fact that he said he wanted to buy his mother a house. I told him this is the moment you can turn your life around. Your whole life. He dug deep and for me it was really, really fascinating and amazing to watch.”
The burning question is when Cafu’s mother can expect her new home. It seems to be a while away.
“Not now, but in the future,” Cafu said. “This is a stepping stone. I think I’m headed in the right direction for that. Colin reminded me as Tanaka tried to snatch the dream away from me; not only my dream, but my mother’s dream. So yeah man, that kind of woke me up.
“My mother is so excited, she can’t wait for me to come home. I can’t wait to be back home either. But Japan was really good, man. People around here are very respectful and now I have even more fans, it’s been really good.”
What’s next, Cafu wants to further cement his name in the history books with unification fights. That means you either RING Magazine champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who also holds the WBC belt, or Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs), the WBA and IBF title holder, must face.
“I can’t say much, I’ll wait for my team to see what’s next,” he said. “But in the future I want to unite the division. The goal is to make history and I did it today. In the future, I want to make more history. There are some good guys in the division and I would love to fight them too.”
