Thysse’s hope of winning IBO junior middleweight belt shattered in loss to Prat

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Milan Prat did not only win the vacant IBO junior middleweight world boxing title by defeating Brandon “Fast Guns” Thysse at the Salle du Casino in Enghien-les-Bains near Paris, France, on Thursday night.

The Frenchman also shattered Thysse’s aspirations of becoming the first IBO junior middleweight from South Africa.

The US-based IBO began working with South Africa in 1998, and this country has produced IBO world champions in 15 of the 17 weight classes.

The junior middleweight and the heavyweight belts are the only two that continue to elude South Africa.

Roarke “Razor” Knapp was the first to lose in an attempt to win the junior middleweight belt in June 2024.

Knapp was defeated by Jorge Garcia Perez from Mexico at Emperors Palace.

Shervantaigh “SK” Koopman also failed to bring the same belt home the next year. He lost to Uisma Lima at the Palace of Dreams on May 31 last year.

Both fights were staged by Golden Gloves, whose new director, Nivi Grogor, was in France with team Thysse.

Nicknamed “Natsuko”, 27-year-old Prat improved his fight record to 31 wins against a loss, while 32-year-old Thysse went to five defeats against 20 victories and a draw.

There were four knockdowns, three delivered by Thysse, who was the first to put his man down in round one.

But the referee ruled it a slip. The fight was for Thysse to lose; he had reach and height advantage, and he had ample chances of winning the fight by a stoppage.

Thysse — the reigning South African and former WBC and IBO Africa holder — did not master the distance through his left-hand jab, which was working magic.

He hurt Prat with body shots but was not consistent. Thysse — the tougher of the two — tried, but not very well, to put his foe in the corner and hurt him.

Thysse’s body shots were hurting Prat, to the point where he could not even hide it. But, again, Thysse let him off the hook.

Thysse’s defence was tight as a wall, but Prat was able to penetrate it and land clean shots.

After some fouls — low blows from Prat and rabbit punches (behind the ear) by Thysse — they opted to fight in the pocket, and they clashed heads accidentally.

That stance was unnecessary, especially for Thysee, who should have used his left hand to keep his foe at bay.

Prat, who was heavily favoured to win, finished stronger while Thysse seemed to have gassed out.

Thysse was the first in the ring, accompanied by trainers Damien Durandt and Andson Kazembe.