Joyi Not Intimidated By The Challenges of Condes
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Former IBF minimum weight champion Florante Condes, the hard-hitting Filipino southpaw doesn’t scare South Africa’s Nkosinathi Joyi, the undefeated South African who battles Condes in an IBF title eliminator at the Orient Theater in East London on Saturday (Manila Time.)
The two fighters came face-to-face during a pre-medical in Johannesburg on Tuesday in the presence of media for the hugely anticipated showdown between two little men who hit very hard.
Joyi drew laughter from the media when he showed he was not intimidated by the shorter Condes saying “his manager or trainer is talking about how well prepared they are but I just want to make it clear that I will beat this boy.”
Carrying the rhetoric further, Joyi, according to Super Sport said “I see he likes to knock out his opponents but he is the one who will be seeing stars on Friday”
Joyi is banking on his unbeaten record of 15 knockouts in 19 wins but Condes himself has a record of 20 knockouts with 23 wins as against 4 defeats and one draw.
Joyi claims that Condes is no different from Arman de la Cruz whom he knocked out in the second round in a battle for the vacant IBO title on November 4, 2006. He also scored a first round knockout over Gabriel Pumar in a title defense on November 16, 2007.
However, Condes’ handlers including well-known promoter Sammy Gello-ani who has helped get his career back on track after Condes parted ways with his manager Aljoe Jaro insists Condes is a different fighter.
Gello-ani who accompanied Condes told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports prior to their departure last Saturday that Condes is determined to earn a title shot in a rematch with Raul “Rayito” Garcia who won the title from him with a split decision in the Mexican’s hometown last June. Condes had earlier won the title with a twelve round split decision over Indonesian veteran Muhammad Rachmann in Jakarta on July 7, 2007.
To earn the rematch Condes will have to beat the undefeated South African. Condes himself told us he had trained hard and was sharply focused in an effort to win the eliminator and then face Garcia to avenge his defeat.
Trainer Joven Jimenez who couldn’t travel with the fighter because of his failure to secure a visa on time said the game-plan for the Joyi fight is to “start aggressively and make Joyi feel the power of his punches.” In fact, Jimenez said his arms hurt every time he does the punch-mitts with the southpaw Condes who carries the monicker “The Little Pacquiao.”
Jimenez said that from the start he had impressed on Condes the need to stay focused on his fight and indicated that Condes had responded well.
Since they hadn’t seen a tape of Joyi who has a string of knockouts to his name, Jimenez said they merely anticipated what the South African would do and practiced how to counter.
Jimenez said he had worked on Condes’ movement so as to be able to avoid getting hit while at the same time teaching him how to cut off the ring and catch his opponent.
The trainer was confident that Condes who was sharply focused on the fight would win saying he was “ninety percent sure that Condes will win because I have seen his face. He’s smiling, he’s happy and his ready.”
In his last fight, Joyi who is ranked No. 3 by the IBF scored a second round knockout over Mexico ’s Lorenzo Trejo.
