When it rains it pours.
That must’ve been Cassper Nyovest’s thought when, early in the fourth round of his exhibition against NaakMusiq, it became clear that the storm outside Sun City had drifted into the Sun Arena, and he was caught right in the middle of it
What was perceived by many, myself included, to be an easy fight for Cassper was rapidly turning into a nightmare.
After some entertaining undercard fights and a brilliant performance by the legendary TKZee, the Sun Arena was packed almost to full capacity and the crowd was abuzz as the two artists come boxers squared off in the ring.
It started off as a smooth encounter for Cassper as he won the first round with a flurry of early shots that had Naak shook.
The crowd, which was heavily backing the "Siyathandana" hitmaker, was in full voice by this point as their fave was in the ascendancy. Boisterous chants of Mufasa (Cassper's nickname) rang through the arena.
Congratulations to both Cassper Nyovest and Naak Musiq they both went all out freaking entertaining!!! #CassperVsNaakMusiq
— MASTER KG (@MasterKGsa) April 9, 2022
The second round was much tighter though as Naak started to find his feet. And by the third round, he had properly found his rhythm. Cassper’s lack of fight fitness was starting to show.
The next two rounds of the five round fight brought the arena into stunned silence as Naak took full control of the fight.
By the time the final bell rang, Naak's team was celebrating in the ring while Cassper sat silently by his corner.
And when the ring announcer revealed that Cassper had lost, pandemonium erupted in the ring as Naak's team celebrated wildly.
What a fucking amazing nyt!!! Sun City packed to come watch boxing and it all started with a dream to bring boxing to the big stage. Took an L But we come back stronger. We will hear from the other team when they want da rematch, I say 3 Months would be enough and we get back in.
— Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) April 9, 2022
Backstage, an exhausted but joyful Naak spoke with a few gathered media in a packed dressing room surrounded by family and friends.
Speaking on the negativity and trolling on social media pre-fight, Naak explained that although he tried to tune it out, he eventually needed to get off social media.
"I found myself getting annoyed the more I read into it and I told myself I wouldn't go on social media. If you look at the last couple of posts on my social media, I've turned off the comments cause I literally don't care what you have to say."
He also shared what was going through his mind when, in the middle of the fight, there were moments when he seemed to laugh.
"I think I just recognised that he was holding me a lot. That kinda clicked in my mind that there was an advantage here.
"It drains you when someone holds you in a boxing match and every time he would let go I'd have to reset and start all over again, I think that was his tactic."
Despite some poor organisation when it came to logistics, it was overall a truly entertaining evening and the fight did not disappoint.
A rematch seems to be on the cards and, if this first fight is anything to go by, it'll be yet another spectacle that'll have us glued to our screens.