East London boxers suffered mixed outcomes in their crucial bouts in Johannesburg at the weekend, with one of them coming of age when he virtually ended the reign of the oldest SA champion.
Fighting in the Xaba Promotions tournament celebrating Nelson Mandela’s birthday at the Vodacom Dome in Midrand, Landile Ngxeke and rising star Siyabulela Hem scored big victories.
Sada-born Ngxeke knocked out tough Filipino Genisis Libranza in five rounds to claim the vacant WBO intercontinental bantamweight title.
He was in command all the way, throwing every punch with bad intentions, while the Filipino retaliated in spurts.
Making the third visit to SA after previously giving Ngxeke’s former stablemate, Phumelela Cafu, a tough fight in August 2023, Libranza seemed to be overwhelmed by Ngxeke, who nailed him with big shots from the first bell.
But Libranza took all the punches unflinchingly until Ngxeke decided to switch his attack to the body.
The shift proved a success as a right to the solar plexus sent Libranza to the canvas, leaving him writhing in pain for the full count.
Ngxeke’s stablemate, Hem, appeared to be out of his depth in the early going against Bongani Mahlangu in their SA junior featherweight championship showdown until the middle rounds, when the 45-year-old began to tire, aggravated by a swollen eye.
The 21-year-old Hem bided his time and maintained his composure, shading the early rounds before taking over from round eight as he landed cleaner punches on the ageing champion.
Hem’s seventh win in nine bouts snapped Mahlangu’s dominance of young East London boxers and returned the title to Duncan Village.
Mahlangu had snatched the crown with a chilling knock-out of previously unbeaten Ayabonga Sonjica at the Orient Theatre in 2022.
While Hem and Ngxeke returned with glory, it was not such a good trip for former amateur star Sinethemba Blom, who suffered a brutal 10-round knockout loss to Khaya Busakwe in an SA lightweight title challenge.
Blom seemed to have no plan to counter Busakwe’s reach advantage as he ate numerous jabs, getting floored by a left hook in the third round.
His best round was the fourth, when he applied relentless pressure on the champion and appeared to turn the tide.
However, Busakwe reasserted dominance while Blom surged forward without mounting a sustained offence.
Busakwe closed the show emphatically when he unleashed a right hand which cannoned Blom off the ropes before delivering his limp body to the canvas, where he remained long after the referee had counted him out.
In the main bout, XP-promoted Mpumelelo Tshabalala was considered extremely lucky to be declared the winner over Argentinian Junior Leandro Zarate for the IBO junior-flyweight title.
Zarate was in total control, dropping Tshabalala in the sixth round and battering him from pillar to post but somehow two judges saw him losing by 115-112 while the third had the Argentinian way ahead with a 116-111 margin.
The decision was considered by some pundits to be one of the worst yet against a visiting boxer.
DispatchLIVE
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