By Chris Totobela
The Sarah Baartman Boxing Organisation (Sababo) hosted its district trials at the Joza Indoor Sports Centre last weekend with Blue Crane, Ndlambe and hosts Makana municipalities taking part.
Local boxing fans did not disappoint as they packed the sports centre to the rafters, cheering their boxers.
One of the cracking bouts saw Makhanda’s Linamandla Jim exchange leather with Bathurst-based Ayabulela Tokwe. The latter started the fight well, throwing some good punches in the first few minutes of the first round, but faded towards the end, allowing Jim to land hard punches.
Jim fought behind the jab and threw beautiful combinations that started with solid body punches. In the second round, both boxers went toe-to-toe, exchanging solid punches as they were both looking for that one punch to make the difference.
In the third and final round, both boxers threw everything at each other with Jim catching Tokwe with a straight right on several occasions. That stunned Tokwe into action as he finished the round stronger, putting Jim under enormous pressure and forcing him to fight on the backfoot. Jim narrowly won the action-packed fight.
In another exciting bout, Makhanda’s Sithembiso Prince started stronger against Blue Crane’s Lingelethu Ngesi and dominated the first two rounds, but started to tire in the third round and took a lot of punishment from Ngesi. Prince tried to fight back towards the end of the bout but it was too little too late as he narrowly lost on points to Ngesi.
In an all-women bout that produced fireworks, Lilitha Matshotyana of Makhanda redeemed herself after losing a week ago. She defeated clubmate Lelethu Cunge who also fought well but lacked the killer instinct.
In the bout of the tournament, local golden boy Qhama Kilani came up against Ndlambe’s Mandisi Qumba. Kilani showed his intentions from as early as the first bell and dominated the entire first round with solid body and head punches.
In the second round, Qumba tried to fight back but was always caught by Kilani’s right hook. Both boxers went for broke in the third round and gave the fans what they had come to see.
Good boxing skills and ring craft with bravery was showcased in this bout and both boxers were given a standing ovation for their efforts. However, Kilani emerged the overall winner.
Sababo president Khayalethu Richards was pleased with the trials. “This tournament was successful and there was good display of boxing. We have managed to select a team of 32 boxers – 10 females and 22 males – that will represent us in the provincial showdown in Aliwal North on 13 June, and we are hoping to do well.”
