Funeka meets Raheem
in IBF eliminator!

July 3, 2008

By Ron Jackson

Promoter Branco Milenkovic stages one of the biggest boxing events ever in East London (South Africa) on Saturday when local boy Ali Funeka meets the highly rated Zahir Raheem from the US in an IBF lightweight title final eliminator and Moruti Mthalane meets Hussein Hussein of Australia in a final eliminator for the IBF flyweight title.

The highly rated Raheem 29-2; 17 will be the toughest opponent faced by Funeka 29-1-2, 24 since he made his pro debut in September 1995 when he fought to a draw over four rounds against Simphiwe Xabendlini.

Funeka, 30, a former South African junior lightweight champion and the current WBC International lightweight champion has only suffered one loss in his career and that was to former IBF junior lightweight champion Mzonke Fana in July 2002, when Fana had to comeback from a first round knockdown to win a close points decision.

In April 2007 Funeka struggled to defeat Yakuba Amidu of Ghana but came back well in his last fight in September of the same year to score a fourth round stoppage win over Benjamin Sollano from the Philippines.

The 31-year-old Raheem who is known as the Z-man was an outstanding amateur with a reported record of only 4 losses in 217 fights.

He represented America at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games as a bantamweight but was stopped in the second series by Arnaldo Mesa of Cuba who went on to win the silver medal.

He turned professional on November 16, 1996 with a win over Cliff Watford and then racked up an unbeaten record of 25 fights before losing on points to Rocky Juarez in Houston for the WBC Continental Americas featherweight title in July 2004 in what many considered a hometown decision.

During the fight Raheem was continuously harassed by the referee and the commentator said, "That referee made it seem like Raheem was fighting two people"

Putting this setback behind him he stopped Jose Quintana in his next fight and then on September 10, 2005 he outpointed Mexican legend Erik Morales for the vacant WBC International lightweight title in what was considered a major upset.

Going into his first world title fight in April 2006 he lost on a split decision to Acelino Freitas for the vacant WBO lightweight belt.

After this setback Raheem has beaten Cristobel Cruz and in January 2008 stopped Ricardo Dominguez in one round.

This is a real step-up in class for the tall Funeka but as along as the tricky Raheem boxes intelligently he should win by a decision.

In another tough assignment South African flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane 22-1; 15 meets the 32-year-old Hussein Hussein 31-4; 24 from Australia. They will be an IBF flyweight title eliminator.

Hussein will be trying to get his career back on track after coming off a points loss to Hiroyuki Hisataka of in December last year.

He has also had two cracks at winning a world belt but was beaten by Pongsaklek Wonjongkam for the WBC flyweight title in November 2003 and then stopped in two rounds by Jorge Arce for the vacant WBC flyweight belt in October 2005.

The 25-year-old Mthalane made his pro debut in December 2000 and slowly worked his way up the ranks before being stopped by Nkqubela Gwazela in the tenth round in September 2004 when he challenging for the South African flyweight and vacant WBC International flyweight title. Despite this setback he continued to hone his skills and has developed into a fighter with all the moves as he boxes behind a tight defence.

He won the SA flyweight title in August 2006 when he knocked out Akhona Aliva in the sixth round and has now made three successful defences.

The more experienced Hussein is favoured to win on points