World championships are often won in a matter of moments. For newly crowned WBO super flyweight boss Phumelele “Truth” Cafu, the decisive moment of the fight came at the end of the seventh round.

On Monday night in the fifth round at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, the world title challenger from East London boxed outside his native South Africa for the first time. But the four-division titleholder, whose only previous loss was to fellow multi-division titleholder Kazuto Ioka almost four years ago, used his experience to settle in and looked to have regained control of the fight with five rounds remaining.

Then something changed. With the fight hanging in the balance, Cafu’s trainer Colin Nathan reminded him between rounds what he was really fighting for.

“You’re showing him too much goddamn respect,” Nathan said. – All this shit about wanting to buy your mother a house. You let him take it away.

This was exactly the kind of revival Cafu needed. The athlete dug deep and although Tanaka held forceful, Cafu found a little more later in the match and won by split decision with scores of 114-113 (Phil Austin), 113-114 (Jesse Reyes) and 114-113 (Waleska Roldan).

Coach Nathan, who just two days earlier had witnessed his IBF junior flyweight champion Sivenathi Nontshinga being mailboxed and held in nine frames by Masamichi Yabuki at the Aichi Sky Expo in Aichi, Japan, explained the reason for his motivational speech.

“He was at his best in the eighth round,” Nathan told The Ring. “Words can evoke emotions and mentally stimulate a warrior. Since boxing is a mental sport, I think tonight was won by mentality, not physicality, because Cafu was also tired in the last round, but he showed a lot of fortitude and bit down demanding on the mouthpiece.

“You have to say the right things at the right time to evoke the right emotions and stimulate the fighter mentally, and then of course it will trigger his physicality.”

It was a moment that would have made Joe Goossen proud. The American coach told Diego Corrales, after being peeled off the canvas twice in the 10th round of his first fight against Jose Luis Castillo, “You’ve got to piss him the hell off now.” Corrales did exactly the same, stopping Castillo in the same stanza.

Cafu was overcome with emotion as the scorecards were read.

“Yeah bro, it kind of hit me,” Cafu told The Ring shortly after the fight. “It’s crazy, we’ve been dreaming of this moment for so long and now it’s here. I didn’t even know what to say when they interviewed me because I was so excited, I was over the moon. It’s still like that because I don’t like being world champion. Not because I didn’t believe in myself, but when you grow up watching world champions, you think it’s out of your reach. You know you can achieve it, but at the same time it seems impossible because you are still working your way up. Today I showed that it is possible and that is why I say that I want to standardize the division. It may seem impossible right now, but who knows what might happen in the future.

The undefeated Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KO) was always unsafe with his left hook, but his right hand did just as much damage, sending Tanaka (20-2, 11 KO) to the canvas in the middle of the fight.

“I know I have a forceful left hook, but the truth is I have power in both hands,” Cafu said. “I was looking for a left hook, but I didn’t quite manage to catch it. I grabbed it with my right hand and thought it was gone. When I got to the finish line, I could see he was still there, so I didn’t want to take the risk and go all the way. I also didn’t want to end up on the canvas, so I had to stay serene and composed.

“It feels good. Tanaka is a four-time world champion. He is an elite warrior. Defeating him also makes me an elite fighter. I’m kind of grateful. His resume says it all: 21 fights before this fight and only one loss, so yeah, man, I’m one of the best now.”

No one was happier with the result than Nathan. He knew he had a talented boxer on his hands, but Cafu was giving a lot of experience to Tanaka, who had fought almost as many world title fights as the challenger in his entire career.

“I was very confident going in,” Nathan said. “I knew it would be a tough fight. I thought we would gain a lot more momentum after the knockdown, but Tanka has the heart of a fighter. He came and came.

“We were prepared. It was a tough camp, but I was very confident going into camp because I knew I had the right player with the right game plan and the right mentality.

“Because he is youthful and has never been this deep before, I think it will make him a better player. I think he will develop more. I still don’t think it’s a finished product, still something to work on. But I think he showed he can dig deep.

“He showed a lot of character, a lot of heart, a lot of will and desires. He really wants to improve his life. And I also kept coming home to the fact that he said he wanted to buy his mother a house. I told him this is the moment you can change your life. Your whole life. He dug deep and for me it was really fascinating and amazing to watch.

The burning question is when Cafu’s mother can expect a recent home. It seems like it’s still some time away.

“Not now, but in the future,” Cafu said. “This is a stepping stone. I think I’m heading in the right direction with this. Colin reminded me of this because Tanaka was trying to rip the dream away from me; not only my dream, but my mother’s dream. So yeah, man, that woke me up.

“My mom is so excited she can’t wait for me to come home. I can’t wait to go home too. But Japan did very well, man. People here have a lot of respect for me and now I have even more fans, it was very good.

As for the future, Cafu wants to further cement his name in the history books with unification struggles. This means a fight with either RING magazine champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KO), who also holds the WBC belt, or Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KO), holder of the WBA and IBF titles.

“I can’t say much. I’ll wait until my team sees what happens next,” he said. “But in the future I want to unify the division. The goal is to make history and I did that today. I want to create more stories in the future. There are some pretty good fighters in this division and I would like to fight them too.”

Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez has opened the door to a possible future heavyweight campaign.

The 33-year-old cruiserweight Ramirez is feverishly preparing for his upcoming WBA and WBO 200-pound unification championship against Chris Billam-Smith on November 16 in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

Mexican Ramirez hopes to get the job done in distant Saudi Arabia.

“The best performance has to come in Saudi Arabia right now, on November 16. And then probably in two or three years I can make weight and become a heavyweight,” Ramirez told BoxingScene.

Ramirez (46-1, 30 KO) was the WBO super middleweight champion from 2016-2018 by decision Arthur Abraham get the belt. The Mexican successfully defended his 168-pound title five times before moving up to 175 pounds.

Ramirez continued his illustrious lightweight heavyweight career, recording five consecutive victories en route to winning the WBA championship against champion Dmitry Bivol. This fight didn’t go Ramirez’s way, which resulted in the Mexican moving up to cruiserweight.

“I had another fight after the loss to Bivol and I couldn’t gain weight. And I said, “Okay. I’m done with 175 pounds and I have to move on.”

After making a successful 200lb debut against Joe Smith Jnr last October, Ramirez took a shot at the Armenian Arsen GoulamirianWBA crown, en route to a 12-round unanimous decision victory.

On November 16, Ramirez will have another opportunity to make history if he manages to unify the cruiserweight division against Billam-Smith (20-1, 13 KO).

Time will tell, but Ramirez remains confident of a decisive victory.

“I see my hands were raised that night. I think it would be a nice win for me and I can really give the fans the best fight possible. I want people to remember me as a legend who gave everything to the fans.

Patience.

It’s not the first word that comes to mind when describing a fighter who – until his last fight – knocked out every opponent he faced.

For Artur Beterbiev, patience has defined his 175-pound championship reign. Every day of his seven-year title reign, he was certain that the time would come when he would have every piece of the right airy heavyweight equipment in his hands.

That moment came on October 12, when he defeated Dmitry Bivol to win the RING Championship and fully unify the 175-pound division.

“When I first won the IBF belt, this dream was always in me,” Beterbiev told The Ring. “I always believed this day would come.

“It happened a few days ago and I’m very content.”

This was evident on his content yet humble face when it was announced that he had won by majority decision at the Kingdom Arena in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. Beterbiev (21-0, 20 knockout) went the distance for the first time in his career. He had expected this day to come eventually, even though he had always avoided looking at his scorecards before.

In the match with Bivol (23-1, 12 KO), it was expected that Beterbiev would have to employ some novel tricks. Both were undefeated, widely considered two of the best airy heavyweights in the world and among the best in the sport on a pound-for-pound basis.

Beterbiev never expects to defeat his opponents, even though it happened many times during his long reign. He will always be the physically stronger fighter no matter who he faces at or near airy heavyweight. Bivol did have a size advantage and – on paper – was considered the better boxer.

It remains debatable whether that last part still holds true after twelve rounds of the championship. At least Beterbiev answered many questions about how he would react when his opponent didn’t go down.

“I was content that the fight went twelve rounds,” Beterbiev insisted. “Because I have to prove that I’m just not looking for a knockout. It’s always the same in every fight. If that happens, that’s fine.

If not, we have shown that we box well for twelve rounds and we can win that way too.”

Beterbiev had to box and fight all twelve rounds to earn the biggest victory of his storied but frustrating career.

Bivol was able to quickly take the lead. What’s more, he was ahead on all three scorecards after nine rounds.

Much has been written about the advice given from Beterbiev’s corner kick before the start of the eleventh round. Renowned head coach Marc Ramsay informed his protégé that he needed a knockout to win.

This sense of urgency is not uncommon in any world-class corner. Hall of Famer, multiple Coach of the Year Freddie Roach often calls on his players to “put him on his ass” before the final round. Most elite coaches know how to get the most out of their athlete in a arduous situation.

This is what happened in Beterbiev’s corner. The 39-year-old world-class fighter, a devastating Russian, responded in kind.

“I didn’t think I was losing, but I wasn’t thinking about the results,” Beterbiev admitted. “I was more focused on the fight. I’ve maxed out in the last few rounds. Honestly, you should always have enough energy to finish the fight in these two or three rounds. It is significant to have no energy left after the fight is over.

“You give your all in the last rounds. I did it when my corner told me to win. They always tell me I need a knockout. I knew that meant winning the rest of the fight and having no energy at the end. After 12, you no longer need this energy^vol round. You need this to win the fight.

Fittingly, the closest Beterbiev came to reaching that distance as a professional was his first competitive win.

Enrico Koelling was hopelessly outclassed in his IBF airy heavyweight title fight in November 2017 in Fresno, California. However, the German fighter saw the airy of day when the bell rang to start the 12th and final round.

Beterbiev knew that his opponent was only there to survive, not to win the title at stake. He capped it off with two knockdowns to force a stoppage with just 37 seconds left in the night.

The fight itself marked the end of a layoff of over ten months as Beterbiev recovered from shoulder surgery. The 2008 and 2012 Russian Olympian fought just his 12th professional fight in more than four years as a professional, seeking his first major title.

Injuries, illnesses and the global pandemic have further slowed down his momentum. Since winning the IBF belt, Beterbiev has fought only nine times.

The key was to make it count every time he stepped into the ring. He did so against then undefeated lineal/WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk in their lineal/WBC/IBF unification fight in October 2019. After nine rounds, Beterbiev was losing two of three points before stopping Gvozdyk in the tenth.

It was his finest hour as a professional, but also his last for the next 17 months. The pandemic and a series of delays stalled his IBF-mandated title defense, which even resulted in a change of opponent. He eventually resumed his career in March 2021. Two fights later, Beterbiev added the WBO belt to his collection.

Three fights later, Beterbiev left boxing’s newest hotbed as the undisputed king of the airy heavyweight division.

“Unfortunately, injuries are part of this sport. Delays are part of this sport,” Beterbiev noted. “All these different things come our way for a reason.

“Finally, something very good has been created. I have always stayed in shape and patiently waited for this moment in my career to come.

Even that moment was postponed for four months as Beterbiev recovered from a knee injury and subsequent surgery. He and Bivol were scheduled to meet in June, even then in a fight that most believed wasn’t possible before 2024.

This lively changed with the emergence of Turki Alalshikh and the Riyadh Season group, which invested heavily in the sport. Moreover, the team has made aggressive efforts to ensure championship fights at the absolute highest level.

Without this current move, the airy heavyweight division has remained divided for 22 years and counting.

Thanks to this, Beterbiev was not only able to achieve success, but also found himself in a country where he could fully embrace the faith shortly after the victory that defined his career.

“Yes, it made the moment more special. “Islam is a substantial part of Saudi culture,” said Beterbiev, a devout Muslim. “But I am true to my faith no matter where I am in the world.

“Winning here made it a little different, but the goal was always to win the undisputed title wherever the fight was.”

Fittingly, the path to undisputed position came against an opponent who had been waiting for this moment as long as he had. Bivol was promoted to the full WBA airy heavyweight title list just a week before Beterbiev’s IBF title reign began.

“It was always meant to be like this, [Bivol] and I fight for everything,” Beterbiev insisted. “I never doubted this day would come. I am grateful to His Excellency (Alalshikh) and those who made this happen. Every step of my career has led to this. This was always my destiny.

“My belief that this day would come led me to what I could do in the ring to make my dream come true.”

Follow @JakeNDaBox