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Not the sturdiest ring ropes that South African boxing has to offer.
Talk about a last-minute cancellation.
South African heavyweight Ruann Visser was scheduled to face Tian Fick in Cape Town. Both men were in the ring, so obviously nothing could possibly happen to derail this showdown, right?
Wrong.
Visser did a little bit of warming up in the ring before introductions, and he leaned up against one set of ring ropes, without issue. He did this again in another part of the ring and the results were disastrous.
Video has surfaced of Visser’s tumble, which thankfully did not see him fall violently on his head, but it was still grounds for the fight getting scrapped.
Crazy stuff in Cape Town today as SA heavyweight champion Ruann Visser is bizarrely injured before a punch is thrown. pic.twitter.com/jZCIZg2ZV1
— Clinton van der Berg (@ClintonV) December 16, 2019
This morning in Cape Town, South Africa, heavyweight Ruann Visser (18-2, 17 KO’s) was set to face Tian Fick (8-0, 5 KO’s) for the SA heavyweight title. Visser was injured when the ropes gave way and he fell out of the ring – canceling the bout. Thanks to @thomask892 pic.twitter.com/IGEfCObvFX
— Tim – Boxeo Boxen ???? ?? Boksing ??? Boks ?? (@Hock1717) December 16, 2019
Let’s just say that ring inspection could have been a little bit more thorough, especially since these are heavyweights in there.
The condition of “The Giant King” is unknown at the moment but at least that one angle shows it wasn’t as serious as it could’ve been.
Let it also be a lesson to everyone that it’s still possible for a fight to not happen even when both competitors are in the ring or cage. This seems extra important to note given a certain UFC lightweight title fight that’s coming up on April 18th.