The Big 5

9

“Why does it look like Johnny doesn’t want to fight?” asked Katlego “he’s trying to lure Thuto into a false sense of security so he can underestimate him and punish his mistakes” answered Tom.

The 2nd round began and Johnny looked to keep the fight in the center. That landed a stiff jab and tried to follow up with a right hand that Johnny blocked and then darted backward however to the crowd it looked like the punch had landed. Johnny then began to move around the ring in a style similar to that of Mohammed Ali before he abruptly stopped and threw a jab to the body followed by a powerful right hand that knocked Thuto down. That waited until the referee’s count hit 6 before he got up. The fight resumed and Johnny was confident that he could put his opponent down for good as he stepped inside and landed a left hook and right cross combination that knocked Thuto down again with Johnny then screaming at Thuto “ it's over” before he confidently stuttered into a neutral corner. To Johnny’s surprise Thuto beat the count and yelled “where are you going? Let’s go! Let’s go! I want all that Johnny smoke” and when the referee motioned for the fight to continue Thuto bum-rushed Johnny like a raging bull and Johnny like a skilled matador sidestepped Thuto and landed a picture-perfect check left hook that sent Thuto face-first into the corner resulting in yet another knockdown. That once again got up beating the count but the bell rang ending the round. Johnny sat in his corner and took a few deep breaths and Prince said “if your box well and stay out of trouble you cruise to an easy points win. Those knockdowns you scored mean you have a huge lead”. Rounds 3 and 4 had Johnny easily outboxing Thuto. The 5th round seemed to be going like rounds 3 and 4 before Thuto landed a stiff jab that knocked Johnny off balance to the point his glove touched the canvas which meant it was classified as a knockdown. He received a standing 8 count. That would then manage to finish the round strong as he not only managed to keep Johnny in the corner for the remainder of the round but he managed to bloody his nose as well. “Don’t worry about that round and your nose, after this round you will be champ again! Okay now focus” said Johnny’s coach. “That aggression you showed I need you to take it up a notch. Look at him, he's hurt,” said Thutos coach. The final round began and Thuto opened up with a huge right hand that landed on Johnny's Chin tilting his head back violently, however, Johnny then began to recover and started to establish his dominance with his piston-like jab until Thuto cracked him a huge straight right hand that stunned Johnny who then staggered and backed up against the ropes and covered up. Thuto threw two more punches that were all blocked and he backed away fearing a counter from Johnny and allowed him to regain control of the round again. With 30 seconds left Thuto cracked Johnny with another straight right that again hurt him causing Johnny to stagger around the ring and Thuto jumped on him like a shark smelling blood as he pushed for the knockout, but with a few seconds remaining Johnny pulled his head back evading a jab from Thuto before he landed a counter right hand before Thuto could follow up his jab. The punch landed right on Thutos chin knocking him out cold before he even hit the canvas as Thuto fell violently on his face. The crowd erupted with several people screaming “he’s not getting up!” Johnny remained undefeated and had successfully defended his title.

Sean was asleep next to Thuli when his phone rang; he looked at the phone and realized he had missed calls from his brother Tom, his father, and his wife. He kissed the fast asleep Thuli and got dressed and left. As he was driving home he noticed the clock on his speedometer read 00; 45. He walked into the house and went into his room and found Suzette sleeping. He then proceeded to take a shower. The sound of the shower running woke Suzette up. When Sean finished his shower and came into the bed Suzette deliberately pushed up against Sean’s crotch. He then ignored her and turned away. She turned to face him and began to caress his chest and he said “not today I’m feeling a bit jaded” and he went to sleep. Suzette disappointed, turned her back to him and went back to sleep.

The heads of the ‘big 5’ families were slowly making their way into the conference room booked by Gerry Khosa. The hotel hosting the meeting was owned by the Khatombela family. Since the families had negotiated for peace it had almost become an unspoken rule that their meetings be held in Khatombela owned hotels or at another family’s territory to ensure their privacy and safety. The norm was that they met once every year similar to an annual general meeting to discuss a lot of matters that ranged from updates on projects they are collectively undertaking, to settling disputes to even ordering hits. These meetings usually took hours as every issue was usually discussed in full detail. Every meeting had a different head chosen to chair the meeting but since this one was an emergency meeting Gerry was the chair of this meeting. Gerry was going over his meeting notes while his brothers Francis and Derrick were ushering the arrivals of their guests. The conference room was set up with a projector and a huge round table with a seat for the head and their operations manager. Mr. Molefe was the only one of the big 5 who had 2 operations managers and this time around he was accompanied by both Brutus and Themba instead of one of them. They were punctual as usual and they exchanged greetings with the Khosas and proceeded to sit at their assigned seats. Harold and Since of the Jimbo family were next to arrive. Mr. Khatombela and Robert arrived 5 minutes later and were also seated. Mr. Dambe and Wilberforce were last to arrive. “Ladies and gentleman, if I called this meeting because not only did I feel it was necessary but because this matter seems to be important to me,” said Gerry. Derrick stood and whispered something to his brother who had an embarrassed look on his face. “Sorry I can be so rude, before I start let me offer everyone something to drink,” said Gerry as waiters came in and took orders and came back in 2 minutes with bottled water and drinks. “Gerry, you can proceed, we're pressed for time here,” said Harold. “Of course I’ll be brief. Ladies and gentlemen certain evidence has been brought to my attention that one of our member’s known associates was seen to be involved in the assault of another member’s child. I propose we view the video and allow the accused a chance to explain and then proceed with a disciplinary hearing “said Gerry. “You’re the chair so let’s get on with it,” said Mr. Dambe. A video clip of Pako and Thuto assaulting Obakeng and Brandon with Pako a well-known associate of Themba. After the video ended all eyes were on the Molefe delegation“Godfrey what the hell!” yelled Mr. Khatombela. Mr. Molefe just stayed still and slowly rose from his seat and then proceeded to stay silent for a few moments. As he was silent the room was beginning to have an atmosphere of tension in the air as the other heads were worried that what Mr. Molefe might say could lead to war. “Yes the men in the video are associates of mine indirectly, they work for Themba but they acted on my orders.” “This is a betrayal!” yelled Francis, “shut the f**k up!” replied Brutus “let’s all calm down,” said Harold. “Now, as you may know, the boys being assaulted were involved in a rather public r**e case. The case was of course thrown out but the public outrage was particularly on social media was intense. Ever since that r**e occurred unbeknownst to everyone here we have all been in the public eye and our various dealings particularly the ones we wanted to keep secret were at risk of being exposed and I’m sure you want to operate with the same level of secrecy you’ve had over the years. I anticipated that this was what this emergency meeting was about so I had this report prepared, I was going to present when we officially met.” said Mr. Molefe. Brutus and Themba then passed around files which showed an investigation was being carried out by Thabang Lesepa. Mr. Molefe sat back down as everyone else read the file and came to the realization that Mr. Molefe had saved them from investigations and indictments. Gerry’s face began to change as he realized that his attempt at creating tension between the Khatombela and Molefe family seemed to backfire and said “I understand the reasoning, but why were we not consulted, I feel like the Molefe family is more powerful than any other family, I mean they do as they please and they are the least dependent on this little coalition we have.” “The reason we came together all those years ago is to settle disputes and make money together. You see let’s be realistic here the war is expensive and while Gerry Khosa and Godfrey Molefe make compelling arguments, I feel Mr. Khatombela is owed an apology and maybe some form of compensation from the Molefes because while it may seem blatantly disrespectful, the umm, beatings did take us away from the public eye and the investigations against us were stopped” said Mr. Dambe. Everyone but Gerry seemed to agree with Mr. Dambe and the meeting ended.