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HBO Boxing comes to South Africa, where Lehlohonolo Ledwaba defends his IBF Jr Featherweight Title against Carlos Contreras
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00:00:00HBO Sports Presentation, World Championship Boxing.
00:00:20The following is a special presentation of HBO Sports, the network of champions.
00:00:26It is almost as though we have been dropped onto another planet.
00:00:33Thousands of miles south and 27 years removed from George Foreman's 1974 rumble in the jungle with Muhammad Ali,
00:00:40the heavyweight championship of the world will again be contested on what the colonial era called the Dark Continent.
00:00:46And though the political darkness has been banished by the light of democracy,
00:00:50the fighters again ply their trade in the middle of the African night.
00:00:53While the quiet streets of suburban Johannesburg lie still in the light of the moon.
00:00:58While those still dispossessed by a history of exploitation dream of a better future.
00:01:03While the street corner foot soldiers of a new South African economy scurry toward their places in the rising sun.
00:01:09While on every front, the children of a traditional society scramble to adjust their outsized wealth of resources
00:01:15to a world that still moves too fast for them.
00:01:19American millionaire Hasim Rahman will enter a casino arena to face British multi-millionaire Lennox Lewis
00:01:24for his undisputed heavyweight crown.
00:01:28It is an event from another world, brought here to honor the world that South Africa hopes to someday become.
00:01:34I'm a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who
00:02:04believe it or not it's four o'clock in the morning and we are live tonight from carnival
00:02:16city south africa hbo sports has ventured to africa to bring you lennox lewis against hasim
00:02:23rahman for the heavyweight championship of the world and before that a junior featherweight
00:02:28title bout between south african belt holder lejanola ledwaba and mexican challenger carlos
00:02:34contraras we are in an unusual casino that looks more like a circus where a 5 000 seat arena plays
00:02:41pre-dawn host to the second occasion on which the continent of africa has hosted a battle for the
00:02:46undisputed heavyweight championship of the world the first of course 27 years ago when our george
00:02:51foreman defended his title thousands of miles north of here in zaire what a privilege it is for us to
00:02:58be here amid the most exciting the most terrifying the most inspiring socio-political experiment to be
00:03:04found on the planet for this event it is of course impossible to cover the event without reference to
00:03:12the extraordinary landscape on which it takes place hello i'm jim lampley with an eye toward that later
00:03:17on in the broadcast we will play for you a remarkable conversation that took place yesterday between our
00:03:22larry merchant and the legendary nelson mandela but in the meantime it has been both a poignant and
00:03:27provocative week as lennox lewis and hasim rakman have gotten to know south africa and south africa
00:03:32has gotten to know them let's take a look a defense of the heavyweight crown is never without hype and
00:03:39fanfare but rarely is that world championship contested on a true global stage lennox lewis has
00:03:44brought to south africa the biggest international sports event in its history and if the build-up to
00:03:49tonight suggests anything it is that south africa will enjoy this rare moment in the sun the challenger
00:03:55hasim rakman was the first to feel the excitement his mere presence generates well what makes me feel
00:04:00good about this trip is that uh just you know they treat you so so nice i mean people around the world
00:04:06can take a lesson from these to south africa rockman looking to gain whatever small advantage he might
00:04:13arrived nearly a full month prior to the fight to become accustomed to the altitude johannesburg sits
00:04:18more than a mile above sea level this proves a smart move on rakman's behalf because by his own
00:04:28admission his early workouts are sluggish coupled with the altitude he must train to fight at 4 a.m
00:04:34at this point lewis was not scheduled to arrive in johannesburg until april 9 and the local papers were
00:04:40already asking if his late arrival would have a negative effect lewis dismissed this notion at a news
00:04:46conference while still in las vegas i know he's over in africa trying to steal my thunder right now
00:04:53but when i come over there it's going to be a different story and i'm definitely prepared
00:04:59i even took a couple days out to do a movie
00:05:01lennox finally arrived on april 10 only 12 days prior to the fight he didn't do much to soothe the
00:05:12already sensitive local media either showing up over 90 minutes late to his first news conference
00:05:17in south africa lewis's casual approach to punctuality was quickly forgotten when that same
00:05:23evening 43 south african soccer fans were killed during a match at ellis park in johannesburg
00:05:27the nation mourned and the world champion mourned with them lewis and his camp attended the memorial
00:05:33service he was inspired by what he saw but uh you know one thing that really took the sting out of it
00:05:39was the the uh the south african singing that was really spiritual to me really deep and heart
00:05:46driven even though lewis took time out to extend goodwill to those in need he knew his greatest
00:05:51responsibility was to focus on the task at hand and he did just that looking sharp during his public
00:05:59sparring sessions and making bold predictions about how the fight would unfold because i'm looking
00:06:04to knock him out in the early rounds anyway so all this climatized thing that they're talking about
00:06:10it is gonna it's gonna be to no avail anyway for weeks boxing media speculated rockman's chance has
00:06:17escalated against an overweight lewis distracted by his april 6 movie shoot back in vegas but the 253
00:06:23pounds lewis brought to yesterday's official weigh-in were well within range
00:06:27the main thing is i believe both of us come to fight both of us believe we're gonna win this fight
00:06:35so we're definitely gonna fight i don't think it's gonna be a whole lot of running i don't believe
00:06:39it's gonna be a whole lot of holding i believe that both of us are gonna try to exploit our weapon
00:06:44and uh the best man gonna win i sent out word that i want my warriors to be uh beating the drums for me
00:06:51and everybody to be singing for me so i know there's uh there's gonna be a lot of uh thrill in
00:06:57the air and uh you know this fight's called thunder in africa but they don't know that i'm bringing
00:07:02thunder plus a little lightning just to top it all off and we bring it back live to ringside with hbo
00:07:10boxing analyst larry merchant both fighters seem very comfortable with their circumstances leading
00:07:14into the fight you on the other hand seem comfortable in the wake of your whirlwind trip to
00:07:18mozambique yesterday to talk to nelson mandela what most surprised you about the great man
00:07:23the depth of his knowledge about boxing it was sort of like interviewing abe lincoln about
00:07:30rail splitting mr president do you prefer a long-handled axe or a short-handled axe many people don't know
00:07:39that nelson mandela the father of modern south africa was an amateur boxer and remains a very avid
00:07:47fan how does this remarkable figure who advocated non-violence reconcile that with his love of our
00:07:57violent game stay tuned for that and more we'll show you the interview after our preliminary bout
00:08:05and before lewis and rachman enter the ring meanwhile of course this is a homecoming of sorts for
00:08:10george foreman and george uh mandela spoke to larry merchant about the excitement of having the
00:08:15undisputed heavyweight championship contested again on the african continent 27 years after your
00:08:20rumble in the jungle how does it feel for you to be back look it's been a wonderful trip people have
00:08:25an inspiring feeling about welcome home welcome to africa that kind of thing i love it a lot of
00:08:32jobs around there they're building new homes got the best highways you would ever see second to
00:08:36california i think you're gonna apply for a job uh i'm gonna stick with larry
00:08:40all right before we show you lewis against rachman we're going to see a star south african fighter
00:08:47fighting in the junior featherweight class 122 pound star lee shinolo ledwaba gets ready to defend his
00:08:54title against carlos contraras of mexico and here's a look at the tail of the tape for the 222 pound
00:08:59fighters ledwaba five years older at 29 hoping to beat contraras and move on toward bigger fights
00:09:05against bigger named opponents in the division they're equal in height a one inch reach advantage
00:09:10for ledwaba they both weighed in under the 122 pound limit unofficially according to our hbo scales
00:09:16they put on about 10 pounds a piece as they get ready to ring uh move into the ring tonight rules of
00:09:22the bout with our unofficial ringside scorer harold letterman the leisha hanola ledwaba
00:09:27carlos contraras fight is scheduled for 12 rounds using the universal rules of the association of boxing
00:09:32commissions there is no standing eight count no three knockdown rule only the referee can stop the
00:09:38fight and you cannot be saved by the bell in any round including the 12th and final round jim as you
00:09:45watch tonight you can log on to hbo.com slash boxing for live trainer audio you can choose which trainer
00:09:51and cornerman you want to listen to also copy box punch stat numbers and an open chat room to talk
00:09:56with fellow boxing fans as the fights take place in the ring leisha nolo had ledwaba incidentally the name
00:10:05looks like leilo hanolo ledwaba and his tribal interpreter speaking the tutu language told us
00:10:12it should be pronounced leisha hanolo even though we don't see an s in there so we go with him 32 wins
00:10:18one loss one draw 22 by knockout hasn't lost a fight in seven years and across the ring from him
00:10:25from juarez mexico carlos contraras stable mate of 154 pound fighter kirino garcia and also ranchero
00:10:32ramirez who lost a big upset on the undercard of prince nasim hamed versus marco antonio barrera
00:10:38two weeks ago first title fight for contraras he had some rough spots in the middle of his career
00:10:43but has been a winner in six of his last seven bouts the most recent one was a technical draw
00:10:49stopped on a headbutt now let's go to ring announcer duncan pollack for the official introductions
00:10:56ladies and gentlemen good morning and welcome to carnival city casino's big tom arena this is the
00:11:02first of two title fights scheduled for the card this morning and it is brought to you with my golden
00:11:08gloves in association with cedric kushner promotions and budweiser the undisputed
00:11:13undefeated king of beer ladies and gentlemen this ibf junior featherweight contest is scheduled for
00:11:1912 rounds our ibf fight supervisor from new jersey in the united states elvin lucas our judges from kent
00:11:27in england mr roy francis from new york new jersey in the united states larry hasard jr and from east
00:11:34london in south africa mr lulama nja ladies and gentlemen our referee officiating his 33rd world title
00:11:42fight from detroit michigan from detroit michigan of the united states mr sam williams
00:11:52we get to the principles introducing out of the blue court on my right the challenger
00:11:58he weighed 54.89 kilograms 121 pounds his record is 17 wins four losses and two draws 12 wins by way of
00:12:10the corner in the united states the victory in the united states huavers at five points
00:12:31the champion at 55.23 kilograms 121.75 pounds his record 32 wins one loss and one draw 22 wins
00:12:44by way of knockout he's in the white trunks with gold and navy trim he is the former wbu
00:12:51bantamweight champion for the south africa's boxer elite for 2000 and region 5a as the best pound for pound
00:13:01boxer in the nation ladies and gentlemen the ibf junior fellowweight champion of the world from
00:13:09south africa london all right gentlemen let's have a good one i want you to write your head blows your
00:13:35kidney parts of your lobe oh and mike in case we're knocked down i'll send you to the furthest
00:13:40neutral corner remain there until i send for you on my commander break take a full step back
00:13:47your hands up protect yourself at all times good luck man
00:13:51uh he was inspired by barrera's defeat of hamed in this weight class in a featherweight class
00:14:07proving once again how dominant mexican fighters have been in the lower weight division
00:14:12it would even be a bigger upset if he were to beat le guabo who was regarded as an outstanding
00:14:24fighter and particularly if you were to beat him in mile high johannesburg south africa after
00:14:28the long trip over here from mexico contreras came over from juarez less than two weeks ago and he says
00:14:34i'm fine feels just like home to me
00:14:42round one ledwaba against contreras the bell rings and both fighters seem to wonder if that was really
00:14:48the start of the fight but here they go
00:14:56two conventional fighters and a tactical first 15 seconds as they size each other up carlos
00:15:02contreras told us i looked at no videotape i don't know anything about him i'll learn in the first
00:15:08round that's fine with me the biggest adversary will be the time of night or morning this fight is
00:15:19happening yeah and it takes a clock to wake you up on time and it's not just the old alarm clock
00:15:25one in the body that needs to go off both lennox lewis and hasseem rachman have been doing their
00:15:30training at four o'clock in the morning george do you suspect the fighters on the undercard
00:15:34had a chance to do the same thing you can do all the training you want but there's still there's a
00:15:38body that has naps naturally naps naturally gotcha if you spend 29 years getting up at eight o'clock
00:15:44in the morning two weeks of fighting at four isn't going to acclimate you right
00:15:48we've seen some pretty lively bouts on the undercard despite the odd hour
00:16:03wasn't it about this same time of the morning when you fought muhammad ali george i knew you
00:16:07were going to bring that up no fact uh he was on the rope and uh let me should i quit well that's
00:16:15we've gone far enough okay i just want to know if it was the same time of day about the same time of
00:16:19day or night
00:16:38both fighters seems to be trying to feel one another out playing the counter punch tonight
00:16:43that's the worst thing for a matchmaker make a good match and end up with two counter punches
00:16:48you were hearing for a moment there corner audio between rounds as or uh during rounds as uh both
00:16:54contraria's trainer and ledwaba's trainer were shouting instructions to the fighters in the ring and uh
00:16:59of course you'll hear both trainers between rounds as they talk to the fighters in the corners
00:17:04all counter punches need to make you miss before they do anything
00:17:12i gotta duck first so if you don't throw nothing happens and that's what has been the case for much of
00:17:19the first round here
00:17:31when we go to the corners in ledwaba's corner where the tribal language of tutu is used our interpreter is
00:17:37filami musibi and in the corner of contreras where they speak spanish our interpreters the familiar ray torres
00:17:56exceptionally low punch output in round one by compu box estimation ledwaba threw 28 punches landing 15
00:18:04better than half contreras threw more 43 but landed only five so ledwaba by far the more accurate
00:18:10puncher in round one according to compu box punch counters
00:18:27good left the body by ledwaba
00:18:29now ledwaba goes to the body with both hands and contraria counters upstairs uppercut
00:18:38well i guess both fighters saw the live tapes of each other in the first round and
00:18:43try to figure out what they're going to do here big right hand by ledwaba he follows with another right
00:18:48on the button ledwaba landing two clean right crosses
00:18:51look robbers got excellent balance he throws that right hand just like standing on a dime and comes
00:18:59right back with the hook you can just see class oozing from him but contraria will test him
00:19:09all those punches by that were landed on contraria and he hasn't backed up
00:19:13nor has he decided to protect himself he's coming in bringing it forward
00:19:16contraria looks good taking a punch but in his four losses three of them were by knockout
00:19:28so he has been susceptible against punches
00:19:32however as we mentioned he stepped way up in class recently winning six of his last seven against
00:19:37better opposition than the kinds of fighters who beat him earlier earlier in his career
00:19:41another straight right hand uh lands perfectly for ledwaba and a right to the body
00:19:50the wobble what he does is he use an excellent left jab throws combination then he starts leading with
00:19:55his right hand which really tells the fighter off what quickness by ledwaba
00:20:04a moment ago you saw him land the jab and immediately come back with the left hook
00:20:11he's got a fight in contraria who's going to fight you back so you better make sure you finish
00:20:17with your hands up he's going to hit you back
00:20:28another big right hand by ledwaba
00:20:34stepping right back in as you say george no i mentioned he was using his left jab then he deviates
00:20:38to a lead right hand and that throws you off and it hurts
00:20:46and the left hook a lot of variety in ledwaba's game
00:20:54the thing about landing those kind of combinations if you don't knock a guy
00:20:57down and hurt him early on he's going to disrespect you the whole fight
00:21:00earlier this evening a little more than a half hour ago has seemed the rock rockman of baltimore maryland
00:21:11arriving at the arena looks a little sleepy but as we mentioned he's been doing all of his workouts
00:21:17at four and here's lennox lewis just two minutes after the rock
00:21:22which one will seize the moment which one will have the moment seized that
00:21:36you gotta put a lot of pressure on him
00:21:37beautifully crafted fighter is ledwaba
00:21:53he comes from sueto the black township you went there huh larry i was down there the other day saw a
00:22:02gym that was uh donated by the great avander holyfield it was a very interesting experience
00:22:10inspiring in some ways depressing in others now ledwaba finding some room to land a a left hook
00:22:17uppercut kind of punch we've seen oscar de la oia throw so many times in his career an angled upward left
00:22:24hook another new weapon that ledwaba flashes after a brilliant round two in which by copy box numbers
00:22:31ledwaba landed 47 of 95 punches and i'd like to know how many of those shots were to the body because
00:22:40if you're going to just beat a guy in the head all night and not get a knockdown he's not being worn
00:22:44out in the body he's going to come on come back on the latter rounds to hurt you must go to the body
00:22:50and there's ledwaba throwing the right hand to the body contreras misses over the top
00:22:53hand it free
00:23:03already compu box maestro logan hobson writes at the bottom bottom of my note
00:23:08ledwaba versus perera wow that's after only two rounds
00:23:14but george foreman making the point that ledwaba's landed a lot early and contreras is still right there
00:23:19you've got to go to the body to take some of the win out of your opponent otherwise contreras can
00:23:26get stronger and stronger you've thrown away a lot of your power hitting him on his hard head
00:23:34double left hook to the body by ledwaba contreras comes back with a right the left of his arm a good
00:23:39right back with a trade well the judge the the referee can be a spectator at this fight they're just
00:23:50standing in the middle of the ring trying everything they've learned in gymnasiums in two parts of the
00:23:57world and they're both well-schooled fighters sam williams walking back and forth and getting a pretty
00:24:03good look at an excellent fight now contreras lands his right cross
00:24:18up contreras bunching his elbows against his body and now blocking some of ledwaba's body shots
00:24:34see if the south african star will go back upstairs and he does with the uppercut twice
00:24:38does a good job of mixing up his body shot jab lead right hand doesn't he though
00:24:57and treras more alive in round three than in the previous two
00:25:01ledwaba still showing the variety in his game if you missed it catch a replay of this month's real
00:25:07sports with brian george zulu chinese
00:25:18mexican american same thing give them angles move side to side don't stand in front of them
00:25:25more imposing compu box numbers for litwaba in round three according to compu box he landed 54 out of 101
00:25:32harold lederman you've scored it i think the way we all went okay jim 30 to 27
00:25:37three rounds to nothing in favor laguaba jim to me this kid looks like another resume nelson
00:25:42very very good variety of punches he's winning his fight on effective aggressiveness clean punching he
00:25:47doubles up on his shots constantly i mean he doubles left uppercuts a tremendous variety of punching
00:25:52carlos tutreras getting very very puffy around both eyes
00:25:55contrari should be advised don't box with a boxer fight it if you're gonna do anything just jump on
00:26:05him and throw shots until he decides to fight you back but if you start this boxing game he's gonna jab you
00:26:11lead right hand uppercuts all her things in the book he's gonna do to you
00:26:25because wherever the book is ledwaba has read it and and has managed to get most of it totally distilled in
00:26:34his game you can't try to get them with a perfect shot just hit them with anything you can hit
00:26:46now contrari begins to crowd ledwaba more he'll be more effective that way
00:26:51that may be the first time williams has said break in three rounds in two minutes
00:27:06there's a five-punch combination that last salvo from ledwaba
00:27:13contraris able to make a miss with the right hand though and pounding with the left hook in the counter
00:27:21the
00:27:36the
00:27:36the
00:27:37the
00:27:37the right uppercut but you can see does not like to throw it stay on
00:27:41stay close to him he may hit you with one or two but he's not in love with that shot
00:27:45doesn't like throwing it off maybe he's hurt his hand a few times doing it
00:27:49maybe that's why his trainer has twice asked him to throw that punch
00:27:58oh he went to the body good that time
00:28:11four lively rounds in the books a look at downtown johannesburg or gothang
00:28:17as it's called in the new south africa
00:28:21large city
00:28:25and a city in dramatic transition as is the entire nation
00:28:36that's all he has now you're going to get him that's all he has he's not going to bring in anything
00:28:41else he can't bring anything else he doesn't have anything else
00:28:56talk about
00:28:58gov
00:28:59and what was going to do
00:29:04what else is there he can hit me with
00:29:13round five contraris mark walks almost all the way across the ring to try to get close to
00:29:18legionola ledwaba ledwaba has provided an early boxing lesson to game and willing carlos contraris
00:29:27and now contraris if he's going to take advice from george foreman will try to get closer
00:29:31and make it more of a fight you got to get close and stay there find a position where
00:29:36this guy misses you at and stop going up and down out of it stay there
00:29:39ledwaba is now making him pay for trying to get inside with an excellent movement
00:29:48he gets in close and doesn't do anything you got to get close and hit it and ledwaba is so accurate
00:29:53from range uppercut right cross left hook mixed in brilliant combinations from ledwaba
00:30:05this kid could fight anywhere anybody in any featherweight division on the planet
00:30:19i can't say however that we have seen his uh roberto duran hands of stone
00:30:39the moniker he has adopted from the great lightweight yeah catchy nickname huh
00:30:44the charis calls himself ferris which is a small ferocious dog and he is a small ferocious dog dog in
00:30:59the best sense of the term
00:31:19now contraris is starting to step up his mauling and
00:31:24stand close brawling that's the way you got to do it it doesn't look pretty but keep this guy hands to
00:31:29himself
00:31:40doing a good job should push him around take him to the rope
00:31:50almost every seat filled now in this 5 000 seat arena as the clock nears five o'clock in the morning
00:31:57here in south africa
00:32:01think about good boxers they have to coast after they've thrown so many punches that's what
00:32:05the water the lava the water is doing now he's coasting you don't want to coast and give your opponent courage
00:32:12asim rahman with an early wake-up call begins to warm up in the locker room for his first chance
00:32:23at the heavyweight championship of the world
00:32:25and somewhere down the hall lennox lewis likewise preparing for the defense
00:32:42very difficult guy to stop offensively
00:32:51well particularly since by compu box numbers through five rounds ledwaba has thrown 345 punches
00:32:58and landed 172 of them so he's averaging 70 punches around and landing half of them
00:33:05it's awfully hard to mount a counter-attack against somebody who's that accurate and that prolific
00:33:09he's doing an excellent job of getting back into the fight
00:33:16his opponent
00:33:19has an arsenal just waiting there's that uppercut again you saw
00:33:24contraris's head pop back as lidwaba landed the right to the chin
00:33:27and there's the right cross
00:33:34i think he did more damage that time the wobble did and just didn't take advantage of
00:33:39some fighters are just not looking for knockout well what we're not going to see a one punch
00:33:43knockout but a tko from accumulated punishment is certainly not out of the question if he continues
00:33:48to land right crosses and right uppercuts the way he has
00:33:55pernell whitaker would hit you and knock your head right back stand you still
00:33:59and still move and box just was not looking for a knock
00:34:03pernell whitaker about to fight again i believe next weekend in stateline nevada
00:34:09fighting at 154 pounds instead of the welterweight class where last he appeared
00:34:14now contraris launches a three-punch combination
00:34:28now contraris landing a good right hand
00:34:37what you want the boxer to do start he's tired of being attacked so he start acting like the brawler
00:34:43puts his head out in front of you and you jab him
00:34:49and if you stay on a boxer long enough he will fight you if he has it in him
00:34:57jab jab jab left hook two right crosses in a row when ledwab decides to attack he throws a lot of punches all at once
00:35:09upper cut right cross brilliant stuff again from lujanolo ledwab of south africa
00:35:31he'll be looking for a stoppage
00:35:45not loading up on his punches yet but judging by that last round he'll be looking for a stoppage
00:35:57sometimes in the second half of this fight contraris threw 89 punches in the sixth round
00:36:03by far his most active round so far ledwaba threw 81 of his own and landed 39 harold letterman how do you
00:36:10have it through six okay jim i still got in the shutout six to nothing 60 to 54 lesionolo ledwaba
00:36:16jim i gotta tell you he's just out working him carlos contraris probably came close to winning
00:36:20around in the sixth but there again he just got outworked ledwaba gets inside
00:36:24lands the harder better shots lands the combinations and that's what's catching the judge's eyes
00:36:29so ledwaba based on clean punching and water punching thank you harold and my compliments to
00:36:36you harold because you pointed out to me all this week that everybody calls him lelo ledwaba and i said
00:36:42well he says lesionolo and you're doing it and i really appreciate that harold
00:36:48you know control his nose is swollen pretty bad and i can hear him from ringside trying to get a deep
00:36:53breath snorting yeah and he's having some trouble breathing
00:36:56and corner's going to be trying to take a look at this and of course remember we are at mile high
00:37:01altitude um juarez has some altitude but i don't think it's anywhere close to 5 700 feet
00:37:10so the second half of the fight could present some more advantages for ledwaba
00:37:16the walker corner told him don't stand in front of this man after you've thrown your combination
00:37:20he keeps making that same mistake after you throw two or three shots does not move left or right he
00:37:26stands there so contraris has an outside chance of getting in a lucky shot is he admiring his work
00:37:31george now you can do that and cause a lot of trouble for yourself don't admire your work do what
00:37:38left hook behind it seizes the initiative again contraris lands a right and comes back with the right to
00:37:44the body
00:37:50if you've made it into this ring from sueto and from one of the poor areas of juarez
00:37:58you're tough and both of these guys along with their skills are tough little men little big giants
00:38:08talk about tough contraris of course is good friend and stable mate of the rapidly becoming legendary
00:38:19carino garcia who was so poor that for a period of time he literally lived in a cardboard box in juarez
00:38:26who lost 20 consecutive fights at one point in his career and now has become a contender ranked fifth
00:38:32by one governing body in the 154 pound class what a resilient story that is you see that same doggedness
00:38:40in contraris despite the fact that he was outgunned
00:38:48and we talked about altitude johannesburg at 5740 feet so many star fighters in recent years have trained
00:38:56at big bear in california looking for an altitude advantage up at 6770 feet lennox lewis trained for
00:39:04this fight for the most part in las vegas before coming here 12 days ago las vegas at a little over
00:39:112 000 feet and previously lewis has trained in the poconos where the altitude is only about sometimes
00:39:18you saw him flinching as he took that shot
00:39:24this is a methodical beating he's taking because a lot of those love of lebrado punches are going to
00:39:30the body as he was supposed to not like the church is going to get any stronger now he better pour it
00:39:36on and pour it on good right now lebrado has been brilliantly accurate throughout the fight by
00:39:41compu box numbers round seven was his most accurate yet landing 40 of 69 that's 58 percent
00:39:50telephone pole jab for lebrado straight in the face of contraria big left hook
00:40:00you think that uh lebrado sees that nose george and wants to put more emphasis on his punches there
00:40:06he's doing he's doing a good job he goes up with the uppercut the right uppercut then he comes
00:40:12right down on top of that nose maybe he shouldn't concentrate on this so much because if he hasn't
00:40:17been stopped now it's not going to happen i mean the nose part of it anyway you're gonna have to hit
00:40:22him with some good shots everywhere
00:40:37there's that left hook to the body again
00:40:39carlos contraria's taking a tattooing and not backing off at all
00:40:58contraria's got nothing to be ashamed of if he can just get in a good exchange
00:41:02put some power on that left hook he may be able to drop
00:41:06the wobble never give up in a fight never give up well george you never gave up and you had the power
00:41:14to back it up i'm not sure that this guy does
00:41:21you got to do like you're playing baseball and just throw your whole body
00:41:24like flawed patterson would do he would just dive in swing hard in case you hit something
00:41:41well as round eight winds down licinola ladwaba continues to apply punishment to the very game
00:41:47carlos contraria's ladwaba defending his version of 122 pound title and doing so with brilliant efficiency
00:41:53so far meanwhile both participants in the heavyweight championship battle upcoming expressed regret
00:42:00that ticket prices are so high in this 5 000 seat arena that for average south africans there is
00:42:06no access to this fight literally no chance for them to buy tickets the way they're priced
00:42:11some had hoped mandela would come he tells why he didn't
00:42:15in lennox lewis and hasam rahman we have two top boxes which are going to put our country on the map
00:42:29and it is therefore a clash which every patriotic south african should welcome and support
00:42:40and i regret that i will not be able to take my seat at the ringside
00:42:49he explained to us that a twice postponed diplomatic meeting
00:42:54was scheduled for this night long time ago and that he just couldn't postpone it again
00:43:00and that's why he can't attend larry i uh i mentioned at the beginning that you interviewed him in the
00:43:06um former wife of the late president of mozambique he has homes there here and down in cape town
00:43:18here being soweto right does he also have a home in sweat he has a home in soweto which is a sort of a
00:43:23uh museum big left hook by ledwaba
00:43:32pretty sharp in the ninth round huh george that's a sharp left hook and you don't see those in the
00:43:37ninth round in that weight class right hand lead left hook behind the air more outstanding stuff from
00:43:46lucianolo ledwaba and the crowd comes to life as they watch the south african star performing at the peak of
00:43:55his game
00:44:14george you're in a prize fight and you're concentrating on your own interest in trying to find a way to win
00:44:20is there ever a moment when you have a sensation to say wow this guy in front of me it's really good
00:44:25i haven't seen anybody this good before you say that a lot if you're going to be a champion too much by the way
00:44:34re-taping of carlos contraris's glove in the corner because i'm just thinking the trash has to be
00:44:40he also sparked with the prince yep started with the prince in preparation for nazis
00:44:45for nazis and the prince is the hardest hitter in that weight class i can tell you that for sure
00:44:53according according to what they told us according to what they told us in the meeting anyway uh his
00:44:58his manager promoter a gentleman named esvoldo said that the two fellas he sent this far
00:45:04with this i see him both came back and said he's going to lose because he was hurt and injured in
00:45:10training that's right they said he was injured too outside and often had ice packs on his shoulders
00:45:17i think the referee better start looking in because
00:45:20it's not going to get any better for contraris now now he's taking a beating
00:45:27and we're reaching the point where a chance for contraris to win the fight
00:45:32is a remote possibility at best this is a classic performance uh classic fighter
00:45:41boxer puncher wore down a really tough guy in the first half of the fight and is now moving in
00:45:48to close the show hold on that's what you tell that's what your corner should tell you hold him
00:46:02oh now the jab to the body by la guava
00:46:16is there anything he doesn't do contraris has got the heart he's got heart
00:46:25and a good left jab back
00:46:32two rounds to go as a weary call us to 22 clarence bones adams and led guava
00:46:45one thing we saw when barrera fought hamed
00:46:49for elite fighters those few pounds don't mean a whole lot
00:46:55bones adams throws a lot of punches a fight between
00:46:57he and guava would be a wide affair with a lot of leather being landed
00:47:04barrera is a little bit more measured in his output you know
00:47:09the guava opened up with a left sort of an uppercut
00:47:13that is rare yeah that hooker cut as i call it and he had this
00:47:18contraris head standing right up there harold how you got it through nine is it still a shout out
00:47:23absolutely jim 90 to 81 nine rounds to nothing legionolo legoire but jim i gotta agree with the
00:47:29two-time heavyweight champion of the world george roman when you know when he said the in the ninth round
00:47:34that sam williams better watch this fight very closely because contraris has taken a beating
00:47:38in round nine he was staggered twice grab just like he grabbed now when he got hit with a good shot
00:47:43and i'll tell you he's been taking an awful lot of punches i think this one's close to getting stuck
00:47:47led guava nine to nothing based on green hard punches
00:47:57and you've fallen a guy around who's pot shatting on you you just can't follow him around and not
00:48:02throw punches you gotta just hit hit something throw hard in case you hit something
00:48:09well contraris lands the left hook upstairs after landing only four punches by copy box
00:48:18numbers in the last round and led guava as george points out just hot shotting so accurate
00:48:32rocky marciano would follow you around and be swollen in the same fashion but
00:48:36by the tenth round eight the tenth round he'd already hammered your your forearms down yeah
00:48:41rocky marciano had bone crushing power yeah he didn't even aim him to the head all the time
00:48:45he just beat you on your elbows and your forearms we haven't seen contraris do any of that if you're
00:48:51going to follow him around hit something well contraris for the most part has been too busy getting hit
00:49:06the crowd senses that led guava is coasting a little bit in this round and trying to urge him on
00:49:21maybe led guava just decided that contraris is too tough and he's not going to try to knock him out
00:49:43yeah obviously throw some of those hard shots like that you got to go back for some oxygen
00:49:46let guava stumbling away from a contraris right hand
00:49:55contraris now thinking aha i've got him right where i want him
00:50:02round 11 of a scheduled 12 in a one-sided fight so far between legionolo led guava of south africa and
00:50:09carlos contraris juarez mexico contraris has taken a long trip from mexico to absorb a consistent
00:50:16beating through the police the first ten rounds by led guava and the tape is starting to come
00:50:22loose come loose again sam williams not taking note of it yet sometimes they like to just move the
00:50:34fight on if it's not going to get any better don't keep delaying me the fight and the inevitable in this
00:50:41case
00:50:47trellis landing a left hook trying to get it led guava's body
00:50:56well watching a really tough rugged mexican fighter with a 17 and four record
00:51:04stay in there with led guava this long yeah it makes you wonder well how well would he would he do
00:51:10against one of the top guys well what do you think what do you think a but a barrera led guava fight
00:51:17would look like larry this only more so break it up break i'm sorry george
00:51:24i forgot something about top guys
00:51:33it's a good fight
00:51:37you have a gal on the hook and you let him out to hope your audience can lose interest in you
00:51:42i want to see you do what you're supposed to do the guava's not doing as much he's coasting for
00:51:47the 12th round that's what he's doing saving it for the 12th and of course in this situation
00:51:54you've had a chance to watch led guava throwing 80 sometimes 90 punches per round would he be able
00:51:59to do that with barrera in front of him landing his patented left hook to the body probably not
00:52:05would he even try to probably not i think you guys are being paid by what's his name he's a pretty good fighter
00:52:17he's the name in this division along with the fighter that uh larry told you about
00:52:22if you're looking for guys at 122 that guava can make a big paycheck against
00:52:29and you're the one who always points out to me it's prize fighting it's time to make a big
00:52:35one who's going to lay around now when you lay around like that anything can happen
00:52:41put your head out there contraris has got heart he's got some power he can hurt you
00:52:48oh that body shot right to the body it hurts
00:53:02might be contraris's only round
00:53:05he calls himself the lion since he's been here in africa lennox the lion lewis dancing in his
00:53:15dressing room and preparing to enter the ring we mentioned earlier hasim rahman getting ready for
00:53:20his first world championship fight this will be lennox lewis's 15th world heavyweight championship battle
00:53:28appearance and of course behind him trainer emmanuel stewart countless title fights in various weight classes
00:53:38that's an experienced group
00:53:42that's right
00:53:51let's go now
00:53:55you gotta throw it all
00:53:56carlos contraris continuing his game effort my copy box numbers through 99 punches in round 11
00:54:10only throwing 57 so round 11 by far the most active round of the fight from carlos contraris and maybe the altitude
00:54:16didn't bother
00:54:28the river has a lump over his left guy now
00:54:43so he'll go home with a
00:54:46clean solid decisive victory but he'll know that he was out there for 12 rounds
00:55:04right taking some incoming as well as sending out some outgoing
00:55:13you don't knock a gal and you've got him hurt a few times he's got no choice but to keep jumping on you
00:55:18you're thinking
00:55:48Lisanolo Ledwaba looking for the 33rd victory in a career that stretches back to October
00:56:05of 1990.
00:56:07Carlos Contreras willing, game, spirited and durable.
00:56:18But taking many more punches than he's been able to land.
00:56:22And his nose is not causing a problem like I suspected it would.
00:56:26He's the aggressor and he's breathing well, considering.
00:56:29Nor has Sam Williams had any occasion to stop the fight the last couple of rounds.
00:56:33And as we thought for a while might be the case when Ledwaba was so accurate and so devastating
00:56:37in the 7th, 8th and 9th rounds.
00:56:40The altitude has not had any effects on the trails.
00:56:44Sure hadn't.
00:56:48Ledwaba barely hanging in there.
00:56:58Stepping away from the action, waiting until the fighter steps into him.
00:57:01Steps 5 feet away, come and get me.
00:57:04Take a break.
00:57:05Pretty amazing.
00:57:06If any fighter has tired over the course of the 12 rounds, it's Liguaba.
00:57:09That's what you do in the ring.
00:57:13You keep moving away, make the fighter come to you, get you a breather.
00:57:1910 seconds to go and he's waiting on every 10 seconds to pass.
00:57:2310 seconds to go.
00:57:24Not a knockdown, a slip.
00:57:25And that will do it for Ledwaba's title defense against Carlos Contreras.
00:57:33South African crowd appreciative of their own as they rise to applaud Ledwaba for a technically
00:57:40brilliant performance.
00:57:41In 35 fights, Ledwaba has fought almost exclusively in South Africa.
00:58:00He's had fights in England and in Scotland.
00:58:03Has never been to the United States of America.
00:58:09But would like to come.
00:58:11Let's get him with Bob Arum.
00:58:14He'll bring him over.
00:58:18Cedric Kushner might have something to say about that, George.
00:58:21He's his promoter.
00:58:23And just to correct you for a moment, Jim, I do think he fought one fight in California
00:58:30early in his career.
00:58:38And just to correct you back.
00:58:39Not according, well, no, you're right.
00:58:41Excuse me.
00:58:42A fight against Edison Valencia in California actually two years ago, September of 1999.
00:58:49So relatively late in his career.
00:58:51And shame I knew, Jim, it was in San Diego, your hometown.
00:58:54Yeah, I should have been there too.
00:58:55I was probably off doing a boxing match for HBO that weekend.
00:58:58That would be my excuse.
00:58:59And let's go to ring announcer Duncan Pollack for the official numbers on this one.
00:59:06Ladies and gentlemen, Prime Minister's beginning for the result.
00:59:08I think a nice big round of applause.
00:59:10Let's go to Nuala, Carlos Ducleras.
00:59:12It was scheduled for 12th weather distance and our judges saw the fight as follows.
00:59:24Judge Lula Mahutia scored the fight 118-112.
00:59:30Judge Roy Francis scored the fight 117-112.
00:59:35And Judge Larry Hansen scored the fight 118-110.
00:59:42Ladies and gentlemen, our winner and still here in the air,
00:59:47tuning all the way champion of the world,
00:59:49the goal has the score, Larry Klobauer.
00:59:54So it's a unanimous decision for Ledwaba.
01:00:07Still to come tonight, the heavyweight championship battle
01:00:10between champion Lennox Lewis and the challenger
01:00:13has seen the rock, Rachman, from Baltimore, Maryland.
01:00:17Rachman has been here in South Africa for more than a month.
01:00:20Lewis for only 12 days.
01:00:22Will that be an advantage for the rock?
01:00:24Let's look ahead to some upcoming programs here on HBO.
01:00:27Mark your calendars for these HBO sports shows.
01:00:30April 28, it's Andrew Sixhead's Lewis fighting on KO Nation.
01:00:34The welterweight titlist will be taking on Larry Marks in New York City.
01:00:37May 5, Fernando Vargas and Boxing After Dark return.
01:00:40The ferocious one will be facing Wilfredo Rivera on Cinco de Mayo.
01:00:45May 12, TVKO pay-per-view brings Felix Trinidad
01:00:47against William Jaffe in the middleweight unification series.
01:00:50The winner faces Bernard Hopkins in September for the undisputed crown.
01:00:55And May 26, Floyd Mayweather Jr. returns...
01:00:58...
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