Phumelele Cafu with Bam Rodriguez, Fernando Martinez after overthrowing Kosei Tanaka

World championships are often won from time to time. For newly crowned WBO super flyweight champion Phumelele ‘Truth’ Cafu, the key moment of this fight came at the end of the seventh round.

Boxing for the first time outside of his home country of South Africa, the East Londoner’s first world title shot took out champion Kosei Tanaka in the fifth round at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Monday night. But the four-division champion, whose only loss was to multi-division champion Kazuto Ioka nearly four years ago, used his experience to settle into his position and looked to have clinched the title with five rounds to go.

Then something changed. With the fight in the balance, Cafu’s trainer Colin Nathan reminded him between rounds what he was really fighting for.

“He respects the king a lot,” said Nathan. “All that corruption of wanting to buy a house for your mother. You let him take it for you.”

It was exactly the kind of rev-up Cafu needed. The opponent dug deep, and while Tanaka hung on hard, it was Cafu who found that little by little, winning a split decision with 114-113 (Phil Austin), 113-114 (Jesse Reyes) and 114-113 (Waleska Roldan) .

Coach Nathan, two days after seeing IBF junior flyweight champion Sivenathi Nontshinga outboxed by Masamichi Yabuki in nine frames at the Aichi Sky Expo in Aichi, Japan, explained the reason for his motivational speech.

“In the eighth round, he came out with a tile,” Nathan told The Ring. “Words can create emotions and awaken a fighter in the mind. Because boxing is a mental game, I think tonight he won mentally, not physically, because Cafu was tired even in the last round, but he showed tiredness and bit his mouth a lot.

“You have to say the right things at the right time to evoke the right emotions and strengthen the hitter’s mind, and then obviously that puts him in the body.”

It was a moment Joe Goossen would be proud of. The American trainer told Diego Corrales, after he was stripped twice in the 10th round of his first fight against Jose Luis Castillo, “The f–king has to get inside him now.” Corrales did just that, stopping Castillo in the same stanza.

Cafu was overcome with grief when the cards were read.

“Yes brother, he beat me,” said Cafu speaking to The Ring shortly after the fight. “It’s crazy, we’ve been dreaming of this moment and now it’s here. I didn’t even know what to say when I was interviewed because I was so happy, I was over the moon. I still am because it doesn’t sit well with me that I am the world champion. Not because I didn’t believe in myself, but when you grow up watching world champions, you think it’s beyond your control. You know you can get it, but at the same time, it seems impossible because you’re still working your way through it. Today I made it seem possible, that’s why I say I want to unite the differences. It may seem impossible right now, but who knows what may happen in the future.”

The undefeated Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs) was always dangerous with a left hook, but it was the right hand that did the most damage, a punch that sent Tanaka (20-2, 11 KOs) to the canvas midway through the fight.

“I know I have a strong left hook, but the truth is, I have strength in both hands,” said Cafu. “I was looking for a left hook, but I didn’t catch him. I held her with my right hand and thought she was gone. When I was about to finish, I saw that he was still there, so I didn’t want to risk going out. I didn’t even want to end up on the canvas, so I had to play it cool and hold back.

“It feels good. Tanaka is a four-time world champion. He is an elite fighter. Beating him also makes me a better fighter. Thank you. His streak says it all, 21 fights coming into this fight with one loss, so yeah man, I’m one of the best right now. “

No one was happy with the result except Nathan. He knew he had a talented fighter on his hands, but Cafu was giving up a lot of experience to Tanaka, who had almost as many world title fights as the fighter has had in his entire career.

“I was very confident going in,” Nathan said. “I knew it was going to be a tough fight. I thought that after the beating we would get more momentum, but Tanka has the heart of a warrior. He kept coming.

“We were prepared. It was a tough camp, but I was very confident going in because I knew I had the right fighter with the right game plan and the right mentality.

“Because he’s young and he’s never been this deep before, I think he’ll be a better fighter for it. I think he will improve a lot. I still don’t think it’s a finished product, there’s still a lot to fix. But I think he has shown that he can go deep.

“He showed a lot of character, a lot of heart, a lot of interest and a lot of desire. He really wants to improve his life. And I kept calling home that he said he wanted to buy a house for his mother. I told him that this is the time when you can change your life. Your whole life. He dug deep and for me, that was really interesting and amazing to watch. “

The burning question is when Cafu’s mother can expect her new home. It’s still a long way off, it seems.

“Not now, but in the future,” said Cafu. “This is a ladder. I think I’m headed in the right direction there. Colin reminded me of that because Tanaka was trying to take away my dream; not just my dream, but my mother’s dream. So yeah man, that woke me up.

“My mother is very happy, she can’t wait for me to come home. I can’t wait to go home either. But Japan has been great, man. The people here are very respectful and now I have a lot of fans, it’s been great.”

As for what’s next, Cafu wants to continue to put his name in the history books for the unification battles. That means he will face RING Magazine champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who also holds the WBC belt, or Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs), who holds the WBA title and – IBF.

“I won’t say much, I will wait for my team to see what’s next,” he said. “But in the future, I want to bridge the gap. The aim is to make history and I did that today. Next time, I want to make more history. There are some really good guys in the division and I’d love to fight them.”