Phumelele Cafu has Bam Rodriguez, Fernando Martinez in sights after dethroning Kosei Tanaka

World championships are often won in moments. For newly-crowned WBO super flyweight boss Phumelele ‘Truth’ Cafu, the pivotal moment of the fight came at the end of the seventh round.

Boxing for the first time outside of his native South Africa, the first-time world title challenger from East London had the champion Kosei Tanaka on the canvas in the fifth round at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Monday night. But the four-division titleholder, whose only previous loss was to fellow multi-division titleholder Kazuto Ioka almost four years ago, drew on his experience to settle into his groove and looked to have wrested back control of the bout with five rounds to go.

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 giving him too much f–king respect,” said Nathan. “All that shit about wanting to buy your mother a house. You’re letting him take it away from you.”

It was exactly the type of rev-up Cafu needed. The challenger dug deep, and while Tanaka hung tough, it was Cafu who found that little bit more down the stretch, winning a split decision by scores of 114-113 (Phil Austin), 113-114 (Jesse Reyes) and 114-113 (Waleska Roldan).

Coach Nathan, who just two days earlier saw his IBF junior flyweight titleholder Sivenathi Nontshinga get outboxed and stopped in nine frames by Masamichi Yabuki at Aichi Sky Expo in Aichi, Japan, explained the reason behind his motivational speech.

“In round eight, he came out galvanized,” Nathan said to The Ring. “Words can create emotion and galvanize a fighter mentally. Because boxing is such a mental sport, I think tonight was won on the mentality, not the physicality, because Cafu was tired in the last round too, but he showed a lot of grit and bit down on the mouthpiece hard.

“You’ve got to say the right things at the right time to spark the right emotion and galvanize the fighter mentally, and then obviously that triggers them into physicality.”

It was a moment that Joe Goossen would be proud of. The American trainer famously told Diego Corrales, after peeling himself off the canvas twice in the 10th round of his first fight against Jose Luis Castillo, “You gotta f–king get inside on him now.” Corrales did exactly that, stopping Castillo in the same stanza.

Cafu was overcome with emotion when the scorecards were read out.

“Yeah bro, it kind of hit me,” said Cafu to 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. I still am now because it doesn’t sit well with me that I’m a world champion. Not because I didn’t believe in myself, but when you grow up watching world champions, you think it’s beyond your reach. You know you can get it, but at the same time, it seems impossible because you’re still working your way up. Today I made it seem possible, and that’s why I’m saying I want to unify the division. It may seem impossible right now, but who knows what might happen in the future.”

The undefeated Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs) was always going to be dangerous with the left hook, but it was the right hand that did just as much damage, with that punch sending Tanaka (20-2, 11 KOs) to the canvas in the middle of the fight.

“I know I have a strong left hook, but the truth is, I have power in both hands,” said Cafu. “I was looking for the left hook, but I didn’t quite catch him with it. I caught him with the right hand and I thought he was gone. When I went for the finish, I could see he was still there, so I didn’t want to risk it and go all out. I didn’t want to also end up on the canvas, so I had to play it cool and keep my composure.

“It feels good. Tanaka is a four-time world champion. He’s an elite fighter. Beating him also makes me an elite fighter. I’m kind of grateful. His resume says it all, 21 fights coming into this fight with just one loss, so yeah man, I’m one of the best now.”

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

“I was very confident going in,” said Nathan. “I knew it would be a hard fight. I thought after the knockdown we would get a lot more momentum, but Tanka’s got the heart of a warrior. He kept coming and coming.

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

“Because he’s young and he’s never been in that deep before, I think he will become a better fighter for it. I think he will develop more. I still don’t think he’s the finished product yet, he still has a lot to work on. But I just think he has shown he can dig deep.

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

The burning question is when Cafu’s mom can expect her new home. It’s a little while away yet, it seems.

“Not now, but in the future,” Cafu said. “This is a stepping stone. I think I am heading in the right direction towards that. Colin reminded me of that because Tanaka was trying to snatch the dream away from me; not just my dream, but my mom’s dream. So yeah man, that kind of woke me up.

“My mom is so excited, she can’t wait for me to get back home. I also can’t wait to be back home. But Japan has been very good, man. People around here are very respectful and now I have even more fans, it’s been very good.”

As for what’s next, Cafu wants to further cement his name in the history books with unification bouts. That means facing either RING Magazine champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who also holds the WBC belt, or Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs), the WBA and IBF titleholder.

“I can’t say much, I will wait for my team to see what’s next,” he said. “But in the future, I want to unify the division. The goal is to make history and I’ve done that today. In the future, I want to make more history. There are some quite good guys in the division and I’d love to fight them also.”

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