Kamanga in class of his own

IF given the opportunity to fight for a title and grab it with both hands, it shows you mean business.

Paul Kamanga was given one opportunity to fight for the WBA Pan African junior-welterweight title and he made it his. Though he won by a given margin on paper it was not that given in the ring, when he met Boitshepo Mandawe for the clash of the night.

“Hot Shots” boxing tournament was held on Tuesday July 15 at Emperors Palace, and once again proved to be a humdinger of a Box ‘n Dine presented by African Ring.

On the cards were seven bouts of which one had to be withdrawn, Ronald Malindi vs Tebogo Setsike, as one of the boxers were not given to go ahead by the Boxing Commission to fight. The other fights included some of the best prospects coming out of the South.

In the main fight of the evening the WBA Pan African Junior Welterweight title was up for grabs. Both boxers, Kamanga and Mandawe, were equally matched and this proves in the fact that it was a good balanced tactical fight. Kamanga boxing out of the Box Office corner, who was ably assisted by former well known boxer, Anton Gilmore, trainer and the ever technical advisor, Gert Strydom, was at no stage a walkover.

Mandawe came in as the more experienced boxer and this was seen in the latter rounds, when Kamanga had to stay out of trouble. Kamanga came out blazing from round one, always aware of Mandawes’s record. He accumulated enough points in the earlier rounds in order for Mandawe to play catch-up in the latter rounds. The shot of the fight came in the 11th round, when Kamanga managed to rock his opponent with a big right hand.

The new title holder won by unanimous points decision by the judges 117/112; 117/111, 116/112.

In the other noteworthy bout of the evening, Joey Stigling, made his comeback after an absence of a year. He outscored Kamanga’s stablemate, Rofhiwa Maemu, who of the two boxers were the less experienced. Stiglingh won the lightweight bout on a split decision by the judges, which showed that the young Maemu has a bright future ahead of him. Stiglingh won 59/55; 56/58; 59/55.

Grant Fourie unleashed a big overhand right to knock out overmatched Thulani Mbata in the first round KO 2:07 of a junior-welterweight match.

Southpaw welterweight Chaz Peters bombed out Mastered Mangalaza in the first for a TKO 1:55.

Alfonso Tissen won his middleweight bout against William Nankisi in the allotted four rounds. Though Tissen had his man down on the canvas, he could not finish the job he started and had to wait for the judge’s decision. He won on unanimous points decision 39/35; 40/34; 39/35.

In the opener Ayanda Nkosi came out of his corner with one mindset to win. He overpowered the up and coming Ricardo Hiraman in a featherweight four-rounder. Hiraman was out of depth and lost by unanimous points decision 40/36; 39/37; 40/36.

The tournament was a tribute to ex-fighter Leo Simelane, now confined to a wheelchair after losing both legs to diabetes.

As ever, many boxers came to pay tribute, among them Jan Kies, Jimmy Abbott, Kevin Lerena, Pierre Coetzer, November Ntshingila, Ryno Liebenberg, Hekkie Budler, Johnny Muller, Brian Mitchell, Harold Volbrecht and Ron Ellis.