Sinyabi wins in five

By Ron Jackson

Macbute Sinyabi retained his SA junior featherweight title when he stopped Thabo Sonjica in the fifth round in East London on Friday night. After a sensational start to their rematch, in which Sonjica (55kg) took two counts of eight in the first minute, Sinyabi (54.95kg) had to ward off a courageous fightback from the challenger. Sinyabi, making the seventh defence of his title, turned the tide when another solid one-two combination convinced referee Lulama Mtya to stop the bout after 2 minutes 27 seconds of the fifth round.

It was his 18th stoppage win in 19 fights. He has lost only once and also stopped Sonjica in two minutes and 58 seconds in their first fight in April this year.

The southpaw Sonjica appeared down and out after taking a standing count and then going down for another count right at the start of the fight. But Sinyabi, looking for one big punch to finish him off, was wild and off balance and gave his opponent time to recover.

The challenger, who was nearly knocked down right at the end of the second round, surprised Sinyabi 14-2; 10 as well as the big crowd by turning the bout into a minor war, albeit a messy one at times.

He seemed to be scrapping his way back into contention when he suddenly lost his enthusiasm after again feeling the power of Sinyabi’s punches.

Even though the fight was a ding-dong affair which left the spectators on the edge of their seats both fighters would be well advised to tighten up their defence and improve their boxing skills.

For the record the judges were Allen Matakane, Andile Matika and Simphiwe Mbini.

Tom in a bad way after TKO

The tournament at the Orient Theatre produced outstanding action. In the main supporting bout, Sabelo Jubatha (57kg) stopped Simphiwe Tom (57.10kg) in the fourth round to win the vacant SA featherweight title.

Tom seemed to be seriously hurt after being knocked down in each of the first two rounds.

He survived the third, although he took another big blow right at the end of the round. In the next round he suddenly looked completely disorientated and turned his back on Jubatha, effectively making an end to the bout 42 seconds into the round as the referee Simphiwe Mbini waved the fight off.

He was given oxygen in his corner after the bout and seemed to be in a bad way when he was eventually taken from the ring on a stretcher.

Jubatha (13-1; 10) regained the title he had held before Boxing SA stripped him of the belt for not defending it in the stipulated time after a contractual dispute with a promoter. Tom ‘s record dropped to 10-2; 5. .

The judges were Siya Vabaza, Andile Matika and Allen Matakane.

Earlier, Bongani Silila (48.85kg) won the vacant Eastern Cape junior flyweight title when he stopped Mandise Mkile (48.85kg) 1 minute 3 seconds into the ninth round of a value-for-money fight.

Other results: Junior lightweight: Baxolise Mbexeshi (58.75kg) beat Preston Mozambique (58.50kg), tko 2; Junior featherweight: Lundi Madondile (56.50kg) beat Siviwe Hasheni ((54.90kg), pts 6.

The tournament, one of the best of the year in the Eastern Cape, was presented by Mzimasi Mnguni of Eyethu Promotions.

December 10th, 2011

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