This is what should have ended Lambie's career...severe concussion...I don't think it was done deliberately by CJ Stander...it's a freak act...but it's probably more force on the head than a well timed left hook from Mike Tyson...most men probably would not be able to play for the rest of their careers...I remember boxer Brian Baronet last fight against Kenny Vice at Westridge...he died from a haemorage...
Brian was no slouch or softy, a gentleman outside the ring but one of the best fighters...my ex went out with him in the 80's. I met him on a few occasions and liked the guy very much.
Pat Lambie is no softy either but a man of courage...he has never given up and still plays good rugby. They might have pretty boy faces but never be deceived by looks.
Brian Baronet had it all. He was an excellent, exciting boxer; a crowd favourite wherever he fought.
He had the looks to become a fashion model and the kind of personality that would have made him successful in any number of jobs. He could even have been a fine soccer player had he not chosen boxing as a sport and a career.
Boxing was almost inevitable, though. His father, Ernie, boxed in the 1950s and ‘60s and was a SA bantamweight and featherweight champion. Other family members, his uncle Bernie Taylor and his cousin Brett, were also national champions.
Ernie never encouraged his sons to box, but when Brian and his brother Robert were still youngsters, they often accompanied him to the gym when he trained as a professional. It was simply natural that they would also take up boxing.
Brian, according to available records, had 48 amateur fights. Three were against Brett Taylor, who won every one. But Baronet won the SA lightweight title in 1978 and made his professional debut on April 14 1980, when he stopped Paulus Shoji in the second round.
The handsome youngster won his next ten fights – eight inside the distance – before moving to Pretoria, where he was trained by former SA heavyweight champion Billy Lotter.
The only boxers that took him the distance during that exceptional run were Robert Johnson and Murie Zalacon whom he fought in Atlantic City during a short visit to the United States in 1981. He beat both on points over four rounds.
At Lotter’s gym, Baronet became friends with Arthur Mayisela, who was still an undercard boxer but later destroyed Baronet’s chances of fighting for a world junior welterweight title when he knocked him out at Sun City.
Still, it was a sad day for Baronet when Mayisela was killed in a road accident in September 1986. He was in the United States at the time but had a wreath placed on his friend’s grave.
SEVERE PUNISHMENT
In his first fight under Lotter’s guidance, Baronet took on an experienced American, Sammy Goss. They fought at Westridge Park in Durban on December 14 1981. Baronet had to endure severe punishment to the body before winning on a seventh-round knockout.
He was awarded the Prospect of the Year trophy at the annual King Korn/SA Boxing World awards ceremony in March 1982.
He won his next seven fights in style, beating the likes of James Martinez, Tom Crowley, Walter Clayton and Johnny Summerhays from abroad. But in March 1983 he lost for the first time when Lorenzo Luis Garcia from Argentina beat him over ten rounds.
Bouncing back, he won 11 fights in a row before taking on Mayisela for the SA junior welterweight title at the Sun City Superbowl on November 2 1985. Baronet was fourth on the WBA rankings list at the time and hoping to challenge for the organisation’s title.
A superbly fit and emotionally charged Mayisela proved too good for Baronet, who failed to dodge the champion’s booming right. Only courage enabled him to go out for the ninth round but when he went down for a count, his trainer, Doug Dolan, threw in the towel.
In 1986, Baronet went to Philadelphia to pick up the pieces of his career. Trained by Wesley Mouzon, a former top boxer, he defeated Rodney Moore, Joey Ruiz and Laurie Mann. That set him up for a fight against a 45-fight veteran, Harold Brazier, for the vacant NABF light-welterweight title.
They fought in Atlantic City on October 31 1986 and Brazier, scoring repeatedly with rights to the head, stopped Baronet in the tenth round.
After a break of 16 months, Baronet looked good when he beat American Sammy Rivera over ten rounds in front of 6 000 spectators at West Ridge Tennis Stadium in Durban on February 15 1988.
Only six weeks later he met another American, Davey Montana, at the Ellis Park Tennis Stadium in Johannesburg. He had to come back from two knockdowns in the second round before winning comfortably.
After the fight, SA Boxing World editor Bert Blewett pointed out Baronet’s “disturbing” vulnerability to the right hand.
LAST FIGHT AT WESTRIDGE
On June 14 1988, with a record of 34-3, including 19 wins inside the distance, Baronet faced American Kenny Vice at West Ridge Stadium, his favourite venue and the place where he was Hero No1, Baronet, if not lord, of the ring.
It turned into a sad ending to an exciting career.
Most ringsiders felt Vice was slightly ahead on points when the final round began. Baronet had been boxing, uncharacteristically, rather defensively but there was never anything to suggest the fight should be stopped.
The fight ended abruptly, though. Baronet went down from a chopping right to the neck and was counted out by referee Darryl Ribbink. The 6 000 spectators were stunned into silence when they saw a doctor attend to Baronet before the popular boxer was taken to hospital.
On June 17, the biggest drawcard and most charismatic boxer from Natal died at the age of 27.
It was later revealed that he had knocked his head on his car’s windscreen while he was driving to the official weigh-in before the fight. He was putting a tape into the tape deck and had to brake sharply when he realised there was a car in front of him.
He never told his trainer, Doug Dolan, or promoter Mike Segal about it.
The Johannesburg Sunday Times also reported that Baronet had been suspended and did not have a medical clearance to fight.
I was Durban at the time of that fatal fight and had lunch with him hours before. He looked in fine condition but there was no way of telling how much damage he might have suffered during those two years of fighting and tough sparring in Philadelphia.
