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Johannesburg - Boxing trainer Nick Durandt says he was laughed at when he accepted a fight for Simpiwe Vetyeka against Daud Cino Yordan.
But then Vetyeka gained a 12th round TKO victory to annex the IBO featherweight title in Indonesia on Sunday night.
"They all laughed at me when I took on the fight," Durandt said.
"I never take on any fight for my boxers that I don't expect to win," Durandt said.
The 32-year-old Vetyeka, whose up-and-down career has been littered with surprise bouts - both good and bad - was well behind on points at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta going into the last round against the highly-rated champion.
But a sudden flurry of blows from a reinvigorated Vetyeka had a surprised Yourdan on the canvas twice, before the referee stopped the bout in favour of the South African with only 48 seconds remaining.
Vetyeka previously held the IBO bantamweight title briefly in 2009, after defeating the highly-rated Eric September at Emperors Palace. He never defended the title and after a period of inactivity was stripped of the title.
Before fighting Yordan, Vetyeka suffered a lacklustre points defeat in an eight-round warm-up against journeyman Klaas Mboyane. He was given little chance against the Indonesian IBO champion, who boasted an imposing record of 30 wins from his 32 fights."Vetyeka is capable of flooring a mule when his punches are working," Durandt said.
"I told him before the decisive ending to keep probing for a knock-out in spite of the fact that he had been out-manoeuvred for much of the first 11 rounds.
"I knew he had it in him to cause an upset because he has turned the tables on some pretty highly-rated boxers in the past."
Durandt said the East London-born Vetyeka had largely been ignored by local promoters in the past, having only six fights during the previous four years.
"I think it will be a different story now that he is the IBO champion. And I'm sure he won't have to surrender his title without having even a single defence -- as happened in the past. His confidence is sky-high and he can't wait to fight again (despite) the bruising 12 rounds he went through in Jakarta."
