Boxing In South Africa: Lovemore N’dou vs. Phillip N’dou July 11

Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves and Arthur Pelullo’s Banner Promotions will present a sensational fight card on Saturday, July 11, 2009, at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa. Featured fights will be televised live on Supersport.

The main event, scheduled for 12 rounds, will match Philip “Time Bomb” Ndou, 32-3 (31), of Johannesburg against unrelated former IBF junior welterweight champion Lovemore “Black Panther” Ndou, 46-11-1 (31), a native of South Africa now based in Sydney, Australia.

The fight is an IBO welterweight elimination bout, with the winner to face Matthew Hatton for the IBO title.

A former world title challenger at lightweight, Philip, now 32 years old, returned to the ring for the first time in almost five years on February 14 in St. Quentin, France, and TKO’d Rachid Drilzane in the fifth round.

Before his retirement, Philip was considered South Africa’s top fighter pound for pound. He was voted South Africa’s “2001 Boxer of the Year,” and his fight against Cassius Baloyi in November, 2001, was voted South Africa’s “2001 Fight of the Year.” He also represented South Africa in the 1996 Olympics.

Lovemore, now 37 years old, won the IBF junior welterweight world title with an eleventh-round TKO against Naoufel Ben Rabah in February, 2007. He lost the title in his first defense by 12 round unanimous decision against Paulie Malignaggi in four months later in June. Lovemore lost a 12 round split decision in the rematch against Malignaggi in May, 2008.

In the co-featured bout, South African bantamweight champion Simpiwe Vetkeya, 20-1 (12), of Duncan City, South Africa, will face Eric Barcelona, 47-15-4 (17), of Valencia City, Philippines, for the vacant IBO bantamweight title.

Vetkeya, now 28 years old, won the South African title in February, 2005, and has made nine successful title defenses. He challenged Hozumi Hasegawa for the WBC bantamweight title in May, 2007, but lost a 12 round unanimous decision.

Barcelona is the Philippine Boxing Federation bantamweight champion. Now 27 years old, he won the title in February, 2008, and has made seven successful title defenses. He has won four fights in a row since his last loss in August, 2008.

In a battle of South African prospects, scheduled for 10 rounds, southpaw Tommy “Tommy Gun” Oosthuizen, 9-0 (9), will battle Jared “The Storm” Lovett, 8-0 (8), for the vacant IBO Youth light heavyweight title. Lovett was South Africa’s “2008 Prospect of the Year.”

2008 US Olympian Demetrius Andrade, 4-0 (4), of Providence, Rhode Island, will be featured in a four-round bout against an opponent to be announced. Andrade is co-promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Art Pelullo’s Banner Promotions, and is considered by many to the top prospect from the 2008 US Olympic team.

More exciting bouts will complete the card. All bouts subject to change without notice.

The first fight starts at 8:00 P.M. local time while he first fight televised live on Supersport starts at 10:00 P.M. Emperors Palace in located at 64 Jones Street in Kempton Park, South Africa.