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“The Black Panther” Cruised to Victory in his Second Tune-up Fight in a Row in Australia, but will he ever contend for a major world title?
| A year ago, Lovemore N’Dou was riding high in the ultra competitive light welterweight division on the strength of two competitive losses to Sharmba Mitchell and Miguel Cotto. The native South African who now resides in Australia had exposed |  |
the first cracks in the previously infallible Cotto’s armor while providing hard evidence that Mitchell was no longer the fighter he once was. It is difficult to forget the way N’Dou laughed at the Puerto Rican as he walked through the best Cotto had to offer and repeatedly hammered the supposedly slippery, hard to find Mitchell with cracking right hands. It all fell apart in February of this year when N’Dou lost convincingly to British, Commonwealth and European Champion Junior Witter. While the Sydney man did come back and have Witter in trouble, he could not erase the early deficit that saw him hit the canvas twice early in the action. Since that time, N’Dou, 41-8-1 (27), has banged out the two overmatched fighters placed in the ring in order to keep him from getting too rusty until the next big opportunity arises. But will that chance ever come?
The hardened veteran looked impressive against Mitchell and certainly proved that Cotto is human after all but N’Dou made Witter look like a world-beater. The southpaw from Bradford, England stunned the heavily favored South African, battering N’Dou’s reputation around the ring as well as his body before breaking a hand and having to survive the rest of the way. Give N’Dou credit, he looked on the way to possibly finishing Witter before running out of time but the early knockdowns at the hands of a fighter who looked horrible during his only top level bout (vs. Zab Judah five years ago) and has fought no one of world level consequence since were very damaging.
There has recently been talk of N’Dou getting a shot at Kostya Tszyu victimizer and subsequent IBF Champion Ricky Hatton but with potential unification clashes on the horizon with both Cotto and newly minted WBC titlist Floyd Mayweather for “The Hitman,” Lovemore is probably a risk not worth taking in the view of Hatton’s promoter, Frank Warren. Witter is also Hatton’s bitter rival in the U.K. and the Hatton camp would certainly shy away from giving someone who is already a thorn in their side an opportunity to claim the Mancunian is fighting Junior’s leftovers.
Cotto has already faced N’Dou and after suffering through some real anxiety in that bout, is not likely to grant the former super featherweight a return. There is always WBA belt-holder Carlos Maussa, the surprising beneficiary of Vivian Harris’ recent shocking self- destruction, but with both Harris and mandatory challenger Souleymane M’baye claiming the rights to face the gangly Colombian chancer next, don’t hold your breath for N’Dou to jump to the head of the line.
That leaves Floyd Mayweather, hot off the heels of his methodical destruction of Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City last weekend. This may be N’Dou’s best bet for finally securing a title shot as Mayweather has yet to unify a title before moving up to the next weight class, preferring to make defenses instead. Unfortunately for N’Dou, Mayweather’s title is also the one that he’d likely find himself least able to win, as the Michigan native appears to be at the height of his very impressive powers at the moment.
At thirty-three-years-of-age, Lovemore N’Dou still has a lot left to offer the light welterweight division. His good qualities have been well documented against some of the best in the division but without the type of name recognition in the U.S. among casual fans, along with the sub-par showing against Junior Witter, those qualities may keep him from ever challenging for a major world title despite the fact that he deserves at least one such opportunity.
Curtis McCormick can be reached at thomaspointrd@aol.com
