LOVEMORE Ndou's experience and superior fitness were just too much for comeback kid Philip "Time Bomb" Ndou.

After all the verbal blows he threw ahead of their Golden Gloves IBO welterweight headliner at Emperors Palace on Saturday night, Philip was a beaten man from round four.

Indeed, Australia-based Lovemore, the forgotten man of local boxing, was a class above Philip. It was a vibrant return to South Africa by this Mussina, Limpopo-born fighter, who relocated to Sydney, New South Wales, 14 year ago.

Lovemore completely outclassed Phillip (no relation), from Thohoyandou also in Limpopo, over 12 rounds to win the IBO strap.

Lovemore last fought here in 1995 when he drew with Mthobeli Mhlophe for the national junior lightweight belt. On Saturday Lovemore, 39, whose corner was manned by Harold Volbrecht, was declared a unanimous points winner.

Judge Deon Dwarte (SA) scored the fight 116-112, Bruce McTavish (Philippines) scored it 117-111 while David Moretti (US) was obviously watching a different fight as he scored the fight 115-113. Sowetanscored the fight 118-110 for Lovemore.

Lovemore took charge from round five. He punished Philip, whose conditioning was very poor.

The fight also showed that Philip is not a welterweight. He does not carry enough power to hurt fully fledged welterweights. Lovemore stood against the ropes more than once and allowed Phillip to hit him.

There were no knockdowns.

Philip's trainer Welcome Ncita appeared to be a substandard cornerman. Philip's hands were still being bandaged during the preliminary eight rounder between Hekkie Budler and Khanyakude Mukansi.

Clearly Phillip did not get enough time to warm up.

But that did not change the outcome in any way.

Phillip, 32, tried but his attempts were nowhere near good enough to hurt the "old man" who used his massive experience expertly.

By the way, Philip proved this writer wrong by lasting the full distance. His speed is still there but one thing for certain, he is not a welterweight fighter.

In another title fight Simphiwe Vetyeka was lethargic in his victory for the IBO bantamweight title against Philippines fighter Eric Barcelona, probably because Barcelona never took a step backwards.

Meanwhile, Thomas Oosthuizen outthought Jared Lovett throughout their 10 rounder for the IBO youth light heavyweight belt.

Again the scoring was pathetic. Lulama Mtya was way off at 96-95 while Robero Ramirez of Puerto Rico was bad at 97-93. Only Deon Dwarte's score of 100-91 was a fair reflection of the fight.