Nkosinathi Joyi © Gallo Images

The South African hammered his way to victory over 12 rounds, winning by 120-107 on two cards and 119-108 on the third.

Condes put on a brave performance against a much taller opponent who knocked the Filipino down in the twelfth round for a count of eight but was somehow unable to add to his 15 knockouts in his 20th bout.

Joyi never lost a round as he kept his fists working like pistons, always taking care not to drop his guard against a dangerous opponent who had come into the ring with a record of 23-4-1; 20.

However, Joyi was not the only star in the ring. American referee Bill Clancy was brilliant. He gave Condes two time-out breaks to recover from a low blow and an accidental clash of heads without making a big deal of the incidents.

The way Clancy positioned himself throughout the bout and the way he controlled the fight was reminiscent of Stan Christodoulou at his best.

Joyi will be asking himself how he failed to stop Condes. The answer is simple: the former IBF mini-flyweight champion is a proud, courageous fighter who took a staggering amount of punishment, yet was still moving well on strong legs in the final minute.

Joyi is now in line to challenge for the IBF title. On this performance he will be hard to beat. Big in the shoulders and strong in the arms and legs, he worked hard, concentrated for every second of the bout and showed good ringcraft.

After giving up the IBO strawweight title to go after the IBF belt, the 26-year-old former SA mini-flyweight champion made his intentions clear from the opening bell.

He took a few solid punches along the way but Condes never had him in trouble.

Joyi, who won the vacant IBO belt in November 2006 when he stopped Armando de la Cruz from the Philippines in the second round, retained the title against Gabriel Pumar, Sammy Gutierrez and Lorenzo Trejo.

In this bout, he did nothing to harm his status and probably benefited from fighting for twelve rounds. He may yet thank Condes for contributing to his boxing education.

Condes took time to recover from a blow on the hip and from a really low blow in the third round, when Clancy told him to "walk it off".

He was also cut under the right eye in the fifth when the clash of heads threatened to bring the fight to an early end.

However, good work in his corner to stop the bleeding, a big heart and a command performance by the referee enabled him to stay in the ring right to the end of the final round.

The tournament was presented by Branco Sports Productions.

The judges were Deon Dwarte (120-107), Isaac Tshabalala (119-108) and Wally Snowball (120-107), all from South Africa.

Undercard: Junior welterweight: Sikhulule Sidzumo bt Mzwanele Mkiwane, KO 3
Feather: Preston Mozambique bt Zolani Singazi KO 1
Junior fly: Mandisi Mkile bt Luyanda Madolo, KO 6
Fly: Mzivukile Dinga bt Liviwe Gadini, KO 1
Mini-fly: Toto Twani W Lutho Nkonki , pts and Luyanda Nkwankwa bt Siyasanga Soxuza, pts.

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