Courage Tshabalala

Yes. After a bad heavyweight fight on HBO, Larry Merchant referenced Courage's Tshabalala name, and then fans could not wait to see him in action. At the time I think Tshabalala was 24-0 with 24 KO's.

When I first saw Tshabalala he won, but I did not think he was the next coming for Foreman or Tyson. Later on, it was revealed that Tshabalala lacked stamina, and had a very bad chin. He did not have a huge heart either. In essence, Tshabalala was a top puncher who feasted on grade D and C competition. Not exactly as bad as Lamar Clark’s competition ( Clark is another fighter with a huge KO%, but is all based on fighters with bad records ) , but not that far off either.

The lesson here is punchers can be over rated on the way up. They should beat a few decent journeyman before being praised as the next big thing.

 

Tshabalala was KO'd early by some out of shape journeyman ( Brian Scott )on a PPV undercard fight. No--his chin was very suspect.

 

Courage was one of the strongest heavyweights i ever met... He was the so called African Tyson... He was like someone stated 24-0 all Ko's i think at one point , then he met Brian Scott on the Golota v Bowe undercard... Scott was a durable guy and he weathered the storm from Tshabalala, then sprung a combination from somewhere that caught Courage clean, and he couldn't recover.. The best fight i ever saw with Courage was his fight with Darrol Wilson..... It was an up and down affair swaying both ways,, Its a must have fight for film collectors.. Courage was in Vegas working as a trainer for Duva Boxing as Lou's Mitt man, for a few of the young Duva production line fighters. He told me that the toughest ******* he ever boxed was Maskaev, he said he was unbelievably tough.. He was very definite though (in 2004 That he was going to be making a serious comeback soon.. Courage was around The Golden Gloves Gym a lot in Las Vegas when Mike Tyson was preparing to box Orlin Norris, Zabdiel Judah was also on the card and Courage was always alongside Zab and the rest of team Tyson... Courage was so much fun to talk to.. He was not at all how you may imagine him, he was not in the least African by dialect or accent.. He was very Americanized.. He'd approach you with "wassup Baby , whats goin on brotha" It was very amusing to listen to.. He was sat next to me years earlier with Larry Donald ringside at Lewis v Mavrovic... He remembered me , and we stayed in touch.. I remember just before Johnny Tocco passed away , he was due to work Courages Corner for a local fight in Vegas, I asked the aging Tocco who Courage was fighting at the weekend, (At the height of his winning string of Ko's..) Tocco removed the oversized cigar from his mouth and calmly said, I don't know , and i don't ****ing care, Tsabalala is going to do a 1 round on his ass.. as per usual.. Enough said......... I did hear that he never ever touched weights , but when he was given a chance to test his strength on a bench press once he lifted a 400lb bar for a set of 5.. having never in his life attempting anything like that..

 

You very welcome, i have been to a lot of fights in the Us since 1990 and i am still only 35.. I really throw myself amongst some very wild people and always make damn sure i move with some of my more influencial friends.. I do intend someday in writing a short story book , but i am not done with my travels yet.. I still have Friday Ahu's career to consider 1st.. I love tellin some o my tales though... nice to hear you tell me they are appreciated though.. A BIGGG Thankyou to lovely people like you....

 

A good example of how people with adjectives as their names sometimes seem very silly when they don't live up to them. Tshabalala had so much potential but also a complete unwillingness to either apply himself or knuckle-down when things got tough in a fight.

 

Ha ha ha ha, we need a big strong heavyweight called Coward McQuitter..

Maybe he would be our next great hope....

 

Great story Bigcat

 

Good story, Bigcat.

My take is he was a talented, under-disciplined fighter who over-committed to his power leaving him ripe for the picking by more polished fighters. Thus was the way it played out time and again for him.

 

Wilson was also in a brawl with Terrence Lewis.

 

I have never had the courage to watch courage........

Ba dum bum.......Sorry, bad joke........