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Undefeated heavyweight contender Courage Tshabalala takes on Brian Scott on TVKO HBO PPV
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00:00Friday 18th, live on pay-per-view. Call to order.
00:04Oscar De La Hoya coming up next month, but our next bout tonight features a fighter
00:08who can deliver the kind of goods that most fans pay to see heavyweights bring to the ring.
00:13This man can flat-out punch. He terrorized opponents as an amateur in South Africa,
00:18but he's taken his paralyzing power with him to the pros.
00:22When he hits you, he usually hurts you.
00:25But can he take that brute strength and add the other necessary elements
00:28to become a true force on the heavyweight scene?
00:31For more on him, let's go to our man on the scene, Frank DeFord,
00:35for his unique look at a man called Courage.
00:39Yes, indeed, Nick, the name is Courage, but the question is talent.
00:44Tonight may very well tell us whether South Africa's first major black heavyweight
00:48will end up as an historical footnote or go on to make his mark.
00:58Certainly he has the name, Courage Shabalala.
01:03And certainly he has the record.
01:04After he was discovered as a security guard in a jewelry store in Johannesburg,
01:09he won 71 of 72 amateur fights, 70 by knockout.
01:13His professional career, both in South Africa and the States, is just as impressive.
01:1819 fights, 19 wins, 16 by knockout.
01:22But the question is, is Courage being asked to show any real courage,
01:27or is he just knocking over a bunch of tomato cans set up by his manager, Lou Duva?
01:32He was showcased on a Madison Square Garden undercard back in May
01:36against a fighter named Tim Noble, who only won seven matches in 16 fights.
01:42Shabalala struggled to beat Noble, unable to contend with just the journeyman with a jab.
01:48The hot-shot Zulu looked like another bully boy who can't hit a moving target.
01:53Shabalala is 6'2", 275, and since the May disappointment, he's won three other easy fights.
02:00So tonight he's back with the real test against Brian Scott.
02:04But this time, the big-ticket audience comes skeptical.
02:07He's no longer the phenom.
02:10Tonight is the time to produce or become last year's phenom.
02:18Courage's name in Zulu translates to Quiet Warrior.
02:22So he's got a great name in every language, and he's got a great record.
02:25Now let's see if he can get some great reviews for this performance tonight.
02:30Jim Lafley and you other critics, down to you.
02:35All right, thank you very much, Frank DeFord.
02:37We're always excited at these opportunities to see the early development of heavyweight courage, Shabalala,
02:43because, as Frank pointed out, he has the kind of explosive punching power which is in itself a natural charisma
02:50for a fighter.
02:51There's a look at the opponent tonight, Brian Scott.
02:55And it is Scott who enters the ring weighing 278 pounds.
03:01He's a giant.
03:0121 wins against questionable opposition.
03:04All three losses by KO.
03:06He's had 12 knockouts of his own, and he is, in the classic sense, a journeyman,
03:12as he makes the journey to Atlantic City here to provide yet another mark on the record one way or
03:17another for Courage Shabalala.
03:20As you look at tonight's fighters' records on these graphics,
03:23we remind you that all the fighters' records are brought to you by the ring, the Bible of boxing.
03:31And here is Shabalala's entrance.
03:35Very personable young man, 19-0 with 16 knockouts, as Frank pointed out.
03:4012 of those knockouts in the first round.
03:42That's not quite as well as he did in that category as an amateur,
03:46but, of course, it's time now for Courage to fight tougher and tougher opponents.
03:52All right, good luck.
03:56Courage may punch like a 275-pounder, guys, but just a slight correction.
04:02He weighs 225.
04:06And he is one of the best young and natural punchers I've seen come along in the heavyweight division in
04:12a very long time.
04:13Well, you got the master puncher, George Foreman, here to evaluate Shabalala
04:17and see what he can do as he goes against the 278-pound, 6-foot-5-inch Scott.
04:24Not going to be all that easy a target to move off of his feet,
04:27although, as we pointed out, all three of Scott's losses were by knockout.
04:31And the rules of the bout are the same as those you've seen for the two preceding bouts.
04:36So, as we run them down for you one more time, let's go up to Michael Buffer for the pre
04:40-fight intro.
04:42And now, ladies and gentlemen, by way of Caesars Atlantic City Main Events and Budweiser present the big boys.
04:48We go to the heavyweight division.
04:49This bout scheduled for 10 rounds.
04:52The three judges scoring the contest on the 10-point must system will be Melvina Latham,
04:58Joseph Pasquale, and Barbara Perez.
05:01And when the bell rings, the referee for this bout will be Benji Estevez.
05:07Introducing first, fighting out of the red corner, wearing white, trimmed with red flames,
05:13and weighing in at 278 pounds.
05:17He comes to us from the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois, with a professional record of 21-3, with 12 KOs.
05:24Ladies and gentlemen, he is Brian Bam Bam Scott.
05:34And his opponent across the ring, fighting out of the blue corner,
05:38wearing black, trimmed with gold, and weighing in at 225 pounds.
05:43He comes to us from Eshawai, South Africa.
05:47He brings a perfect record of 19-0, with 16 KOs.
05:52Introducing the undefeated, Courage, Shabal Allah!
06:02Okay, Brian, Courage, I repeat again.
06:04Protect yourself at all times, obey my commands at all times.
06:07Good luck to both of you. Touch up.
06:09The last time we saw Scott, he had gotten married the night before the fight,
06:15and since that time, he's put on about 25 pounds.
06:19Draw your own conclusions.
06:22That married life.
06:27Among the three men to have knocked Scott out are Jorge Luis Gonzalez,
06:31who did it on the day after Scott's wedding in 1995,
06:35and Tommy Morrison.
06:36Got him in the second round back in 94.
06:39Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:40That's first! Come on!
06:45Shabal Allah showed a few mechanical flaws back in May in the Garden
06:49when he had so much trouble with Nobles.
06:55Shabal Allah has got this great reach.
06:57Just when the opponent pulls back,
06:59his arms are a lot longer than you think,
07:02even if you have a height advantage.
07:04But Scott is not pulling back.
07:06That may cause some problems for Shabal Allah.
07:09Already, the left eye of Scott is reddened.
07:15And Shabal Allah going to the body relentlessly here
07:18in the first minute of the fight.
07:20He has already been downstairs about four or five times
07:23with combinations, and that will take a toll on Scott.
07:26Yeah, what happens, you keep going down to the body,
07:29and it makes your opponent lower his guard
07:30to protect his body, and then you go on top.
07:40Oh, God!
07:44Shabal Allah focusing body all the way so far.
07:47He's thrown the jab upstairs,
07:49but all of the power punches have gone
07:51toward Scott's considerable guts.
07:54Oh, God!
07:54And the last...
07:55This is the second time the referee
07:58has said something to him already
07:59about a below-the-border-line punch.
08:03Scott's trunks are extra high
08:04so he's going to have a lot of problems with that tonight
08:07got this cup that goes up
08:08in the trunk
08:11Shabalala looking to land
08:13a right hand
08:14he's trying to load that right up to the body now
08:16and there he released it to the chest of Scott
08:20Scott now
08:20begins to loosen up and fire a couple of jabs
08:22and Shabalala jabs in response
08:25now Scott is big
08:26and if only he knew how to fight big
08:29he'd be in good shape tonight
08:33you keep your left jab out
08:34keep your right hand up
08:35you in good shape all night
08:37if you're bigger and taller
08:38a lot of really big guys
08:40never make use of their size advantage
08:42George
08:42no
08:43they always bend down
08:45never bend down until your guy
08:47make him think that you're taller
08:49never present to him a lower target
08:52everything should be reaching up
09:03very low blow by Shabalala there
09:05it was on the way
09:06that was clean
09:08the referee was partly shielded
09:13and said that it was a clean blow
09:15although it looked right on the border
09:17good left hook to the body by Scott
09:19and he tries to follow it in
09:21and Shabalala gets a chance to counter with the right
09:24that's the first power punch he landed upstairs
09:29and as we go to the between rounds period
09:32between rounds one and two
09:33for Shabalala and Scott
09:35let's let you hear something
09:36that took place a little earlier
09:38in Riddick Bo's dressing room
09:58obviously we had a sound problem
10:00we weren't getting all of the instructions
10:03from Larry Hazard to the boat camp
10:06that was the chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission
10:09Larry Hazard along with referee Eddie Cotton
10:10and they were talking to Bo
10:13about rules interpretations for the fight
10:16that was a good round
10:17that was great
10:18just to start the better things
10:20just to start the better things
10:20just keep them up
10:22okay
10:27referee wisely reminded Shabalala
10:30as he came out to keep his punches up
10:41Shabalala again showing you his ability to counter
10:45as he came over a looping right hand by Scott
10:48went straight to the body again
10:56Shabalala made a mistake
10:57he gave Scott some courage
10:59he didn't have in the beginning
11:01and he's going to get penalized
11:03the point
11:04sooner or later
11:05perhaps sooner
11:07if he keeps this up
11:09now that was a slip
11:10not a knockdown
11:12but you saw Benji
11:14as Davis once again warning Shabalala to keep them up
11:16as Larry pointed out
11:21Scott is able to land his jab at will
11:23and when you can get a good jab in
11:25as often as you want
11:27you can always get a good right hand behind it
11:32well one of Shabalala's problems earlier this year
11:35against Noble was an absence of head movement
11:37and when a guy as slow as Brian Scott
11:40is able to land his jab against you
11:42you need to learn more about moving your head
11:45so when you're into a fight
11:46and you're not
11:47things are not going your way
11:48start boxing a bit
11:49it's not a crime to box
11:51Shabalala is not trying to even get any points
11:54a knockout or nothing
11:55and he can very well get a knockout
11:57if he box himself into it
11:58yeah but you know what I notice
12:02is that his left hand is very tentative
12:06he's not putting anything behind it
12:07just like that
12:08he's not making Scott think about that left
12:10he's not pumping it in there
12:12with all of it with some power
12:16probably he doesn't have any power
12:18in the jab aspect of it
12:19all the power is when he's winging
12:21when you're far out
12:23some guys don't believe in a jab
12:25they never do
12:26if they get knocked out by left hooks
12:27they never be schooled on their hands
12:29this far along in his development process
12:31and does not yet have a quality left jab
12:34is he ever going to have it George?
12:35oh he can get a left jab
12:36he's going to have to get probably
12:37get some trainers into the gym
12:39who believes in the left jab
12:41yeah
12:42Ray Mercer is 35 years old
12:44and hasn't really learned to jab
12:45until the past two or three years
12:47and now he has an excellent jab
12:48so you can learn it later on in your career
12:50now Scott is able to land
12:52some good left hooks here
12:54and Shabalala can benefit
12:56once he gets a lot of confidence
12:57and mix it up
12:58Shabalala takes a hard right hand inside by Scott
13:01and Shabalala's stunned
13:02and now Scott is landing a series of right hands
13:06and this is getting dangerous for Courage Shabalala
13:10and that is justifiably a knockdown
13:12and I don't think he's going to get up
13:15eight
13:16nine
13:17he's not
13:19that's it
13:20Courage Shabalala has been knocked out
13:23by Brian Scott
13:28natural power
13:30isn't enough
13:31Scott moved in behind the jab
13:34patiently
13:35opened things up
13:37got a knockout
13:39and Shabalala's weaknesses
13:41grievously exposed there
13:43as was the case earlier this year
13:46against Tim Noble
13:46Noble seemed to outbox him
13:48Scott wound up outpunching him
13:51confederately
13:59Kitas
14:00Calamitous
14:00turn of events in the early
14:03professional career of Courage
14:04Shabalala and maybe as
14:07Frank Ford suggested he
14:08will become
14:08just a footnote here you can see the beginning the middle and the end of the
14:19end as Scott opened things up with a jab and finally landed something with
14:25muscle on it and something more than muscles so I guess that that home
14:29cooking must have done him some good George oh but that married life there
14:34you go Brian Scott leans across the ropes and says there is a God just an
14:44opponent who turned out to be more of an opponent then Shabalala's handlers
14:51expected so a shocking defeat for the former Zulu warrior right now let's go
15:02to Michael buffer for the official particular gentlemen the end comes at
15:08two minutes fifty four seconds that's referee Benji Estevez cannot let the
15:14bout continue following the knockdown the winner by TKO victory from Chicago
15:19Illinois Brian
15:33courage Shabalala congratulating Brian Scott what is the biggest of 22 victories now in
15:41the last two years he was able to knock out Brian Scott's career so Tommy Morrison in
15:441994 was able to knock out Brian Scott Jorge Luis Gonzalez was able to knock him
15:49out about a year and a half ago but Shabalala can't get it done and technique
15:53when you don't have it is going to come back to haunt you Scott found one opening
15:57was able to blast his way through it yeah this guy had a left jab and he wasn't afraid to
16:02use it he kept jabbing and jabbing and finally the old right hand opened up and he took advantage
16:06of it double right hands can you believe that would a guy with a midsection like that throwing
16:11double right hands let's tell his wife maybe she ought to let him lose a little bit more weight
16:15and maybe he can get back to the old block a table I mean yeah all right well you saw
16:20courage
16:20Shabalala being warned a couple times in that fight for low blows which brings us back to one
16:25of the dominant topics in the evening because of course low blows ultimately decided the first
16:30meeting between Andrew Gulotta and Riddick Bowe on July 11 in Madison Square Garden George let's take
16:35a look at the long sequence of low blows which ultimately led to Gulotta's downfall tell us how it
16:40happened were they intentional or unintentional there were a few that were unintentional but originally
16:45Riddick Bowe landed the first uh below the belt punch and from that point on Gulotta decided hey I'm
16:50going to get you back and there were a few he just wanted to hit him below the belt some
16:54of this is
16:55bad technique he also has he acknowledges a raging mean streak no doubt about this guy is shady and I
17:02would never will believe that Lou Duvin that camp will ever be able to stop him from being the dirty
17:06fighter so you're saying to me that despite everything it cost him on July 11 and all the time they've
17:12had
17:12to work with him on better body bunching punching technique you could imagine the same situation
17:18obtaining again here tonight yeah Gulotta's has an excellent amateur career he knows about hitting
17:23below the belt he knows the rules probably a lot better than a lot of people think he does this
17:27guy
17:27is doing this because there's a streak in there let's hope that he can change but I doubt it well
17:32it's one
17:32thing of course that referee Eddie Cotton will be looking for from the outset tonight let's turn to Larry
17:37Merchant for his take on the whole situation George says a couple of them unintentional some of them
17:42definitely intentional your take on Gulotta's low blows since he didn't have anything to gain by
17:49continuing to throw the low balls had three points deducted before the final one that cost him the
17:55fight I don't think it was deliberate in the sense of him saying to myself I'm going to hit him
17:59low but
18:00there may be something to what George says that there is a uh a bad boy streak in him a
18:06mean streak
18:07and uh as he put it I'm not snow white he means it that's right well three of our live
18:14boxing matches
18:15on this card having already gone into the books next up we're going to see a battle of veteran heavyweights
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