Ness goes down at the hands of Mbenge

SOUTHERN Suburbs boxer Shaun Ness handed over his South African welterweight belt to a worthy contender in Thulani Mbenge when his corner called it a day at the Showstoppers boxing tournament.

The Showstoppers boxing tournament was presented by African Ring in conjunction with Golden Gloves Promotions and was held on April 23 at Emperors Palace. Showstoppers consists of eight bouts, which includes the SA welterweight title fight, the Gauteng junior lightweight event and an international bout.

Mbenge proved to be too strong for the now former title-holder, Ness, who hails from the South and boxes out of Hot Box under the watchful eye of Colin Nathan.

It was a long, hard night for Ness, as he just didn’t make the call to retain his welterweight title, going down three times, in the first, third and ninth. Nathan called it a day when he threw the towel in on round nine after Ness was dropped to the canvas for the third time to go down at the hands of hard puncher Mbenge, from Peter and Sean Smith’s gymnasium. Mbenge won by TKO in round nine at 58 seconds.

At times the tussle in the ring became scrappy as the new champion, Mbenge, had to deal with a deep cut underneath his left eye and the awkward style of Ness, but his corner kept to their plans of breaking Ness down by throwing body shots and then going upstairs to round it off. The punch that sealed Ness’s fate was the heavy punch in his stomach in the ninth and Nathan thought it good to throw in the towel.

The fight that stood out during the afternoons proceedings was that of Deejay Kriel and Xolisa Magusha. This fight went the distance and there was not much to choose between the two contenders in the strawweight bout over eight rounds. Kriel was announced the winner on a point’s decision called by the judges: 77/75, 77/75, 78/74.

In a fine display of his talent, Kriel overcame the onslaught by the Eastern Cape champion, Magusha, in the early rounds and stepped up his work rate in the latter rounds to clinch the bout.

Fighting for the Gauteng junior lightweight title over ten rounds, Lucky Monyebane fought the evergreen Ashley Dlamini and delivered what had been asked of him, not only winning by TKO in the ninth at 1:27, but also the title. Monyebane is the product of development from Golden Gloves Promotions and Emperors Palace boxing programme.

The fast and furious fists of Monyebane sent Dlamini three times to the canvas and after the third time in the ninth the fight was stopped by the referee.

In the meantime Kevin Lerena recorded the 18th win of his career against a tough Sergio Ramirez from Mexico, winning by points over eight rounds: 79/73, 79/73, 78/74.

To the delight of Smiths Gym, their newly acquired youngster Rowan Campbell made light work of Gerson Sinyo, winning by TKO in the third, at one minute. Sinyo’s corner threw in the towel to hand Campbell his third career win by TKO.

The other results were: former Olympian Jayjay Sonjica won by TKO in the second round at 1:45 over July Mzsuku; Jabulani Makhesne, former Commonwealth bronze medallist, won by TKO in the first round at 1:42 over Sebohhelo Nzemandi; and two-times South African champion Ricky Tshabalala won by TKO against Gabrial Mzadi in the third round by TKO at 1:59.

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