Duncan Village veteran Xolisani Ndongeni breathed life into his fading boxing career when he upset previously unbeaten Puerto Rican prospect Nestor Bravo to win the WBA Intercontinental junior welterweight title in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on Sunday morning.
The fight served as undercard to Puerto Rican star Subriel Matias who stopped Gabriel Velenzuela in eight rounds in an IBF junior welterweight title eliminator.
Having been shipped to Latin America to add to Bravo’s 23 victims, Ndongeni, who had been relegated to journeyman status due to a series of losses abroad, turned the tables by outduelling the hometown hero to win a split decision and give his international career a huge boost.
The Johannesburg-based boxer had won just one of his last five bouts when he stopped hapless Malawian Crispin Moliati.
But he lost all his bouts abroad, where he has often been used to pad the records of unbeaten prospects.
Despite his dismal run, Ndongeni had often held his own against rising stars, getting stopped just once when he suffered an eight-round stoppage loss to unbeaten Arnold Barboza jnr, who is on course to challenge for the WBO title.
Despite destroying Moliati in one round before again dropping a decision to unbeaten Argentinian Alan Abel Chaves in Buenos Aires in July, Ndongeni was a big underdog against Bravo, who commands lofty ratings in world sanctioning bodies, ranked sixth by the WBA and 12th by WBO and touted as one of the future champions from the boxing-mad nation.
The judges delivered mixed scores with one favouring Bravo by a 97-92 margin while two others had Ndongeni a winner by 99-92 and 95-94.
The win is expected to vault the 34-year-old Ndongeni back to world ratings and earn him other international offers.
He had already announced that 2025 would be his final year in the ring having lined up farewell bouts in East London.
However, he is expected to shelve retirement plans and continue to milk the tail-end of his career that shows 32 wins with just six losses.
Daily Dispatch
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