Fana wins vacant IBF belt

Mthalane keeps belt, Ndlovu, Takayama win

By Ron Jackson

Mzonke Fana won the vacant IBF junior lightweight title when he overwhelmed Cassius Baloyi at Carnival City, Brakpan, on Wednesday night. The scores of judges Neville Hotz 119-109, Alf Buqwana118-110 and Isaac Tshabalala 119-110 tell most of the story in what was a completely one-sided contest.

Fana (58.80kg) went on the attack in the fist round and stayed on his toes and on top of his opponent until the end of the bout. The sheer volume of punches, rather than power, won the fight and the belt for the hero of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, who has now claimed his second IBF junior lightweight belt.

He took some solid punches on the way to a run-away victory, but Baloyi (58.74kg), who needed a knockout to win as early as the end of the eighth round, had lost his ability to stop even a sub-standard defender such as Fana.

Fana probably lost one of the first six rounds and not another one for the rest of the fight.

His hand speed, which could earn him the nickname Vinnige Fana, was impressive. He might have had a chance of stopping Baloyi by varying his strategy but he never stepped back to create a little space.

Baloyi, the “Hit Man,” was hit so often that he went to the wrong corner at the end of the sixth round. His best days seemed well behind him as the 35-year-old’s record dropped to 37-5-1, with 19 knockouts.

Fana, 37, looked years younger and improved to 30-4; 12 as he regained the title he had held before.

It was rather sad to see Baloyi, a brave champion and a fighter who has been a credit to the game take such a battering and referee Deon Dwarte from South Africa and even Baloyi’s corner erred by not stopping the fight or throwing in the towel on what had become a sickening spectacle.

Baloyi was hoping to win an unprecedented seventh belt.

Mthalane retains belt

In another all South African clash 27-year-old Moruti Mthalane (50.78kg) retained the IBF flyweight belt for the first time when he stopped the 22-year-old Zolani Tete (50.76kg) at 2 minutes 27 seconds into the fifth round.

In the first three rounds Mthalane 26-2; 16 battled with the height, reach and southpaw style of Tete 13-1; 11 and even had his nose bloodied in round two.

However, in the third round there were ominous signs when he buckled Tete’s knees with a big right to the head at the end of the round.

In the fourth round he began to take command of the fight against the inexperienced challenger and midway through round five he dropped Tete for a count with a left-right combination in the neutral corner and soon afterwards had the challenger down again in his own corner with a stiff left jab.

Tete managed to beat the count but the writing was on the wall and soon afterwards as he was being battered against the ropes referee Toni Tiberi from Luxemburg stepped in to wave the fight off.

Ndlovu wins IBF junior featherweight eliminator

Former South African and WBU featherweight and IBO junior featherweight champion Takalani Ndlovu (55.02kg) showed all his years of experience when he outscored Jeffrey Mtahebula (55.04kg) over 12 rounds in an IBF junior featherweight title eliminator.

Judges Wally Snowball and Jaap van Niewenhuizen scored it a rather close 114-113 whilst judge Simon Xamlashe was way of the mark with a card of 118-109.

In the first four rounds there was very little action with both fighters punching short, but in the fourth round Mathebula stopped Ndlovu in his tracks with a short right to the head and from thereon the action picked up it what became an entertaining fight.

Referee Toni Tiberi (Luxemburg) appeared rather harsh in deducting a point from Mathebula in the last round for going in with the head, in what was a clean fight.

Ndlovu lacked his usual sharpness but his experience and boxing skills were enough for him to take a deserved unanimous decision against his taller opponent.

Ndlovu improved his record to 31-6; 18 and Mathebula dropped 23-3-2; 13.

Takayama stops Lefele in six

Katsunari Takayama (47.30kg) proved too strong and experienced for South African minimumweight champion Tshepo Lefele (47.60kg) in scoring a sixth round technical knockout in their IBF mini-flyweight title eliminator.

Takayama from Japan came out fast at the first bell as he took the fight to the South African to score with big shots to the body and head.

Lefele possibly shaded the second round but had no answer to the sustained attack from his Japanese opponent who won rounds three, four and five.

In round six Takayama was in complete control as he battered Lefele against the ropes and when the South African turned his back on him, referee Deon Dwarte wisely called the fight off at 51 seconds into the round.

Takayama takes his record to 24-4; 10 and Lefele drops to 16-5; 10.

The judges were Tony Tiberi, Alf Buqwana and Isaac Tshabalala.

The tournament was poorly attended and it was a rather sad night for promoter Branco Milenkovic of Branco Sports Productions who had put his money on the line.

September 2nd, 2010

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