05.02.04 – By Olaf Schroeder: You could be forgiven for thinking we are talking about some rap artist and a character from the Tarzan movies, what with nicknames like “Malik D” and “Lumumba Boy”. But when the two professional boxers that disguise themselves behind these monickers will face each other in an anticipated 10-round showdown on February 21 in Aschersleben, Germany, there won’t be no place in the ring for trash-talk or sweet dreams about Jane.
That is not to say that both Malik Dziarra and Lolenga Mock are not characters, because the opposite is true. First to Dziarra, a Belarussian with an African father who lives and boxes in Germany under the SES Boxing banner. And as if that multi-cultural background isn’t enough, the 29-year-old puncher is freakishly build too: Tall with long arms and broad shoulders, he looks like a bit like the original ‘Hit Man’, legendary Thomas Hearns. Less than nine months upon turning pro, Dziarra contested the IBF Intercontinental title in only his eighth fight and duly went 12 rounds to outscore Colombian Jairo Siris. By the end of 2002, however, Malik’s short-cut route to the top came to a stop, when he was halted in nine rounds by former WBO # 1 Mario Veit. But Malik wasn’t done and thus came back in 2003 with seven straight wins – all by knockout no less – which brought his overall record to 18-1 with all but two of his victories inside the limit. Exiting statistics for sure, but when Dziarra steps up on February 21 to face Mock, without a shadow of doubt his first real test since the Veit setback, we can be reasonably sure those numbers count for nothing.
Lolenga Mock, you have to understand, is a man with little fears in life and boxing. One guy who learned this the hard way was England’s former world amateur silver medallist – at heavyweight! – David Haye. He considered the natural supermiddleweight Mock nothing more than just a minor obstacle on his way to world cruiserweight supremacy when they fought last September in England. Even the British Board were sceptical of the weight discrepancy and only reluctantly allowed the Danish-based Mock to get into the ring. When told before the fight by his friend, world-class Kenyan middleweight Evans Ashira, who Haye was, what he did and the reputation he enjoyed, Mock just shrugged his shoulders, saying: “Means nothing what he did as an amateur. As a teenager I killed a leopard in the jungle with my own hands. So you think any man scares me?”. The right hand that send Haye crashing to the floor like shot would surely have blown a leopard’s lights out completely. If not for the referee to take a leisurely break between each number of the count – and subsequently stepping in like lighting as soon as Haye returned the compliment of flooring Mock – “Lumumba Boy” would have scored the biggest upset in British boxing in 2003. Hailing from the Congo, the highly intelligent Mock (he speaks English, French, Danish, and different native African languages) has settled in Denmark where he now enjoys serious training and sparring for the first time in his career that currently stands at 22-7-1 (6).
“Malik is ready for anyone and there is not a fight in the world that we would not seriously consider at this stage,” says manager Ulf Steinforth about his boxer. For the “Lumumba Boy” a win would represent probably his most noteable scalp after the one he took many years ago from that poor leopard, which now decorates his trunks. Get ready for a hot rumble…