Mbenge crowned SA welter champ
Thulani Mbenge confirmed himself as one of the most exciting upcoming boxers in the country when he convincingly defeated hard champion Sean Ness via TKO to claim the SA welterweight belt at Emperors Palace on Sunday, April 23.
Also known as ‘Tulz’ in the boxing fraternity, Mbenge was the aggressor in many stages of the fight, which frustrated at times with referee Jaap van Niewenhuizen forced to intervene numerous times for offences committed by either pugilist.
The win, which was Mbenge’s 10th on the trot, meant that the 25-year-old maintained his perfect professional record, while Ness dropped to 10-2-2.
Mbenge has largely quietly gone about his business since turning professional and, although he was largely untested in his previous nine wins, his potential has always been evident.
The clash against Ness was billed as the biggest on the fight card and undoubtedly his biggest test yet – pitting the much younger and more exciting challenger against the more experienced and resilient 34-year-old champion.
He surprised Ness early on with a firm right that dropped the champion after he suffered a cut under his right eye.
In the third, the champion found himself on the canvas again following an onslaught, but it takes a lot more than one onslaught to put Ness away and this was no exception.
In Ness style, the champion came back at the challenger and managed to survive until another barrage of lefts and rights sent him down to his knees in the seventh round before the referee waved the bout off just seconds into the round.
Lucky Mongebane claimed a TKO victory against Ashley Dlamini to win the vacant Gauteng junior-lightweight title in the ninth round.
In an eight-round international clash, the physical mismatch between Kevin Lerena and Mexico international Sergio Ramirez was just one in many as the former cruised to a unanimous points decision.
The officials scored 78-74 and 79-73 twice. – @SabeloBoksburg
