Du Pluy, Johnny

Johnny Da Pluy was born on September 27, 1964 in Johannesburg , Gauteng Province , South Africa . In his youth, Du Pluy became interested in boxing and achieved outstanding results at the amateur level. Du Pluy three times, from 1982 to 1984, was recognized as the best amateur boxer of the Republic of South Africa, having won 194 victories in 200 battles. In early 1985, Johnny decides to start preparing for a professional career ^{[1] [2]} . One of the most famous promoters in boxing history, Rodney Berman, has become the promoter of Du Pluy. ^[3]

Du Pluy's first professional fight took place on April 27, 1985. His first opponent was the novice but more experienced boxer Sophonia Neil. Du Pluy knocked out Neil in the 1st round, having won his first career victory and the first victory by knockout. Neil left boxing after this fight. During 1985, Du Pluy had three more fights with novice boxers, in which he won by knockout. On February 19, 1986, Du Pluy entered the ring against the unbeaten but weak boxer Linus Wallet, who had 9 fights and 9 victories. Wallet was knocked out by Du Pluy in the 1st round, for Wallet, the defeat was a psychological blow, after the defeat he left boxing. The next opponent was Johnny strong Ron Ellis, whose track record was 20 fights and 15 victories. Ellis could not oppose anything to the more technical Du Plauy and was knocked out in the 1st round. After this fight, Ellis did not enter the ring for 7 years. In May 1986, Du Pluy met with Stanley Ross. In the battle, Ross showed good potential and was close to victory, but at the end of the 8-round battle, the decision was awarded to Du Pluy by the majority of the judges. In September 1986, Du Pluy entered his first 10-round fight against the famous American jornimen Mike Jameson . Du Plui dominated during the battle, but he failed to knock out the overall Jameson. This fight South African won on points with a crushing score. In October 1986, Du Pluy first fought outside the Republic of South Africa. October 30, he entered the ring against the famous jornimen Steve Zouski , whom he knocked out in the 4th round. On November 22, 1986, Johnny Du Pluy met another well-known American jornimen David Jaco , whom he knocked out in the 2nd round. In April 1987, Johnny met with former world champion challenger David Bay . By then, Bay's career was declining, but he was considered the first serious rival in the career of a South African heavyweight. In his assets, Bay had a title fight against Larry Holmesai defeating Greg Page , which he won in 1984 at a time when Page was 2nd in the WBC rating ^[4] . Nevertheless, in the battle with him, Du Plui dominated along the way, replaying his opponent in speed and power. By the end of the battle, Bay was very tired and was knocked out in the 9th round. June 23, 1987 Johnny entered the ring against James Tillis . Tillis at that time already had 12 defeats and his career began to decline. Tillis gave a good fight, but due to health problems by the end of the battle began to get very tired. In round 10, Tillis barely stood on his feet and practically stopped resisting and the referee stopped the fight, conferring a victory by TKO Johnny Du Pluy. In September 1987, Du Pluy entered the ring against a once-promising South African heavyweight, promising Bernie Knotze. Knotze had 27 fights and two defeats in his battle, one of which was inflicted by Pierre Kutzer . In the 1st round, Knotze missed a series of punches, then went to the ropes and missed a powerful cross, after which he was knocked down. He could not recover and the referee stopped the fight. After this fight, Knotze was firmly written off and he left boxing. Defeating Knotze, Du Pluy then met light heavyweight Ricky Parks , whom he also knocked out. On November 28, 1987, Johnny entered the ring against former world champion Mike Weaver. He dominated for the first 3 rounds, but then abruptly passed. In the 6th round, the South African almost stopped resisting referring to pain in the wrist. After the end of the 6th round during the break, Du Pluy's team decided to end the fight due to an injury to Du Plui's wrist. Weaver was awarded the victory by technical knockout, Du Pluy suffered the first defeat in his career, but did not accept this and demanded revenge from Weaver. Mike agreed. Before the fight with Weaver, Du Pluy in February 1988 met with the strong James Broad , who in turn won 21 victories and entered the ring against fighters such as Marvis Fraser , Greg Page, Tony Tucker , Francesco Damiani. Broad lost to them all on points and was considered a promising fighter, but in the battle with Du Plui, Broad was knocked out already in the 2nd round. On April 30, 1988, a rematch took place with Mike Weaver . Weaver prepared poorly for the battle. From the very first seconds of the battle, Du Pluy went on the attack and carried out several strike combinations on Weaver, Weaver withstood the first onslaught and tried to counterattack, but ran into the oncoming jab of the South African, followed by a murderous left hook to the jaw. Mike retreated to the ropes, Du Pluy rushed to develop his success and was able to carry out several blows to the head of the ex-champion, who reached the goal, after which Weaver noticeably “swam”. Weaver from the knockout saved the gong. But until the end, Mike did not have time to recover, and from the beginning of the 2nd round Du Pluy fought the battle and drove him into a corner and after a hail of punches he dumped the former champion on canvas. Mike did not have time to rise to the count of "10". Johnny Du Pluy took a convincing revenge. In July 1987, the South African met with the uncharted James Pritchard. By that time, Pritchard was firmly written off and he was considered a passing opponent, but Pritchard made no mistakes in the battle with Du Plume. The fight lasted all the allotted 10 rounds and went a long distance with an abundance of jabs and clinches. At the end of the battle, the judges declared a controversial draw, some experts considered that the underrated Pritchard Du Plui won. A month later, on August 12, Du Pluy held his next professional fight against former champion challenger Renaldo Snipes . Du Pluy did not have time to recover from the battle with Pritchard and prepared poorly for the battle with Snipes. During the first rounds, Snipes dominated the fight, he managed to shake the South African several times, after which he quickly began to lose strength. In the 7th round, Johnny Du Pluy was knocked out, having suffered a second defeat in his career. It was just the second battle for a South African that he fought outside of the Republic of South Africa. In October of that year, Du Pluy met for the second time with James Pritchard. Being in a state of unprecedented motivation, this time Du Pluy perfectly prepared for the battle. Johnny beat Pritchard the whole fight and eventually knocked him out in the 10th round. In December, Du Pluy traveled to the United States, where he knocked out the famous future Jornimen Everett Martin , after which he received an offer from the leadership of the recently created WBO to become a contender for the world champion. Despite the fact that at that time the WBO was a secondary organization, Du Pluy went to Italy to fight with the technical and unbeaten at that time Francesco Damiani . This fight was the first ever title fight according to the WBO . Du Plui dominated the battle, throwing out a huge number of jabs and trying to get Damiani with the right cross, despite the fact that several hits hit the target, they did not affect the outcome of the battle. Damiani has demonstrated excellent stamina. In the 3rd round, both applicants entered into an open battle and exchanged punches and combinations, where luck was accompanied by Damiani. Having missed a series of punches, Du Pluy collapsed on the canvas and did not have time to rise. Damiani won a landslide victory and became the first ever WBO champion. After losing to the Italian, Johnny did not enter the ring for more than a year. Once again, he entered the ring in June 1990 against the famous light heavyweight Lee Roy Murphy. In this battle, Du Pluy won a flimsy victory on points. In August 1990, trying to raise his rating, Du Pluy entered the ring against the strong South African heavyweight Pierre Kutzer. From the first seconds of the battle, Yes Pluy immediately went on the attack. He acted faster and more technically than the opponent, which resulted in the dissection of Kutzer's eye, which he received in one of the first attacks of Da Plui. But Johnny could not develop his success. Carried away by the attack, Du Pluy began to open up very much, so at the end of the 1st round he began to miss a lot. At the beginning of the 2nd round, having got involved in an open battle, Da Plyu managed to send Kutzer to the knockdown, but he managed to get up quickly. Trying to build on success, Da Pluy launched several attacks that were unsuccessful. At the end of the 2nd round, Kutzer managed to push Du Plui to the ropes and make a successful combination, thereby sending Du Plui to knockdown. Johnny managed to get on the count of "10", but did not have time to recover. After the fight was resumed, Kutzer knocked down the opponent again, after which the referee stopped the fight. Pierre Coutrere , having beaten in his career all the strong South African heavyweights, after this fight received the unofficial title of the strongest South African heavyweight boxer of that era. After the defeat, Johnny Du Plui was firmly written off. Having gained after this two victories over little-known fighters, Du Pluy in July 1991 entered the ring against future world champion Corrie Sanders . Trying to quickly knock out Sanders, inexperienced at that time, in one of the attacks, Du Plui ran into his jab, after which he received a powerful left cross, as a result of which he moved back. Sanders took advantage of Du Plume's fortune and brought down a hail of punches on him, after which Johnny was knocked down. He managed to get up, but did not have time to recover and after a while he was again knocked down. Du Pluy got up again, but he was very shaky, for which reason the referee stopped the fight, fixing Sanders' sensational victory by knockout in the 1st round. After this defeat, Du Pluy left boxing for 2 years. In June 1993, he returned to boxing, knocking out the novice South African boxer Samson Mahlanga, after which he again left the ring for 4 years. In June 1997, Du Pluy made another attempt to resume his career, having met with a weak and inexperienced opponent, whom he knocked out in the 2nd round, after which he left boxing completely ^[5] .

After leaving sports, Johnny Du Pluy opened his own fitness club in Johannesburg and worked as a boxing trainer for many years ^[6] .

In the late 2000s, Du Plui was diagnosed with a group of cardiovascular diseases, from the complications of which Johnny died on April 12, 2013 at the age of 48 ^[7]