Tournament packs a punch
Prospect at the Palace III boxing tournament was held at Emperors Palace, last Sunday.
Boxing fans witnessed explosive bouts at Prospects at the Palace III boxing tournament held at Emperors Palace last Sunday.
The fightcard featured seven bouts.
The South African welterweight title, scheduled for 12 rounds, was the main bout of the night.
It was contested by defending champion, Shaun Ness and contender Ayanda Mthembu.
The first round saw Mthembu swinging into the round with punches and leaving no room for analysis.
Ness was rather careful and tactful, taking the first minutes to analyse his opponent, this worked in his favour as he was able to land accurate jabs.
Mthembu began to analyse his opponent in the second and third rounds, but this was a mistake as Ness had already studied him and kept dishing accurate damaging jabs.
Mthembu picked up and began to land a few great jabs as well.
With five more rounds to go, Mthembu was getting tired which was evident in his shaking knees and weak punches that just landed in the air most of the time in the seventh round.
In the ninth and tenth round, both boxers showed signs of being tired with an increase in weak punches.
Both boxers had the audience standing on their feet and cheering in the last two rounds, 11 and 12, as they somehow had energy that was lacking in previous rounds.
Great level of jabs were witnessed and served from both boxers at this stage, maybe trying to score last minute points.
The boxers endured it all and the bout went the full distance.
The judges scored the bout 117-113, 115-114 and 117-111 in favour of the winner and still champion, Ness.
Full fightcard results:
- Junior middleweight- Andile Mabilisa vs John Bopape. Bopape won via technical knockout in two minutes and 33 seconds in the first round.
- Bantamweight- Ephraim Chauke vs Morapedi Khotle. The bout ended in a draw with the judges scoring the fight 58-56, 56-58 and 57-57.
- Light heavyweight- Chas Wasserman vs Fiston Kabamba. The bout ended in a draw with the judges scoring the bout 39-37, 37-39 and 38-38.
- Junior Lightweight-Lucky Mongebane vs Caiphus Thomas. Mongebane won via technical knockout in two minutes and 56 seconds in the first round.
- Welterweight- Thualni Mbenge vs Zenzile Mtanze. Mbenge won via technical knockout in two minutes and 33 seconds into the first round.
- 48kg Catchweight- Deejay Kriel vs Nyelasani Thagambega. Kriel won via technical knockout in two minutes and 31 seconds in the seventh round.
- South African welterweight title- Shaun Ness vs Ayanda Mthembu. The bout went the full distance with the judges scoring the bout 117-113, 115-114 and 117-111 in favour of Ness.
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