Veteran boxer Asandiswa Nxokwana returned to winning ways when she claimed the vacant provincial women’s junior-featherweight title with a majority decision win over Monalisa Takane at a rowdy Scenery Park Community Hall in KuGompo City on Sunday.
The pair fought on equal terms, with the shorter Takane forcing the action while Nxokwana used her experience to dart out of harm’s way.
The bout often turned clumsy, giving judges a headache, reflected by one who turned in an even score of 75-75 while her colleagues saw Nxokwana prevail by 78-73 and 77-74.
Controversy erupted in an all-KwaZulu-Natal super middleweight rematch when Nolwazi Myingwa was handed a fourth stoppage win over Ayanda Ndonyela despite being on the receiving end of her foe’s offence.
Fighting for the third time after also facing each other at the beginning of the month when Ndonyela sneaked by a split decision, the pair wrestled and tumbled, with the taller Myingwa often landing on the canvas without being hit.
Ndonyela would budge in often, leading with her head, turning the bout into a clumsy affair.
As Ndonyela continued to pin Myingwa on the ropes, where she threw a barrage of blows, the referee surprisingly waved the fight over in favour of Myingwa.
This drew an angry retort from Ndonyela’s corner, with her trainer Mthokozisi Ndonyela confronting fight supervisor Phakamile Jacobs.
Jacobs told him to write a formal complaint to BSA about his dissatisfaction.
In a wild swinging match between KwaZulu-Natal boxers, Misiwe Ndlovu avenged her controversial loss to Nolwazi Mabaso at the beginning of March by incorporating body blows in her incessant offence to propel her to a surprising split decision win in a six-round featherweight bout.
Ndlovu, who suffered her first loss in two fights in dubious circumstances, made sure her defeat was a fluke as she rained in a flurry of punches, disregarding defence in the process.
However, it was baffling how one of the judges scored the bout against Ndlovu when she dominated the fight from the first round and at times appeared a few punches away from forcing a stoppage.
In the only male bout of the afternoon, Vuyisani Goci and Ibanathi Manana swapped big punches for the better part of their lightweight clash before the frenetic pace started to tell on Manana.
His offence ebbed remarkably in the last two rounds to allow Goci to sneak through with a unanimous points decision win.
Judges turned in 59-56, 58-55 and 57-56 to hand Goci his first win in the pro ranks.
The tournament promoted by Ola GMM Promotions marked the provincial leg of the Women In Boxing Series.
Daily Dispatch
Mesuli Zifo
www.theherald.co.za