“And still, the South African Bantamweight Champion” were the words that the crowd marvelled on when 12 rounds of boxing was finished in the Cape Sun hotel, in Cape Town on Friday night. Toto Helebe did enough to go away with a majority decision over Gauteng’s Cebo Ngema. The judges scored the fight 116-112 Helebe, 117-113 Helebe and 114-117 Ngema.
The fight was like poetry in motion with the champion doing exactly what he did to Klaas Mboyane last year. During the pre-fight press conference Ngema’s coach assured the media that Ngema would knock out Toto Helebe and as a result Cebo Ngema was not interested in scoring clean shots on the fight except offloading his right hand while he was being countered with a shot right in the process.
Toto Helebe’s record now is 14 wins of his 17 fights, while Cebo Ngema goes down to 4 losses in 13 fights. Ngema was aggressive with no evident plan to score more shots except trying to knock the elusive Toto Helebe. Toto Helebe’s corner had a very good plan of giving the opponent angels and out pointing him instead of trying to knock him out. The third round was the highlight of the match as both Toto Helebe and Cebo Ngema stood toe to toe as if they were proving a point that they could mix if Toto wanted but as a highly skilled tradesman he had to stick to the instructions of his corner man.
The fight of the tournament was the main supporting bout between Lwandile Gugushe and Simphiwe Tom. Lwandile Gugushe was in superb form and game plan when he knocked out his friend and former stable mate Simphiwe Tom inside two rounds. The fight invoked the spirit of the hometown matches between Mzonke Fana, Wiseman Jim and Mkhuseli Kondile. Even though the fight was so short, every skill in the boxing book was used by both Boxers. Lwandile Gugushe came up tops as he countered Tom with good right hands to the body and dropping him in rounds 1 and 2.
One was left with no words to write about the outcome of the bout except disbelief for its quick ending. As predicted, the fight went inside the distance but the hungrier and more tactical Boxer on the day won the fight. Gugushe’s game plan of countering and going to the body has worked in his past two fights, and in the right time he will be ready to challenge once again for the national title.
Other results: Aphiwe Myoyo Won TKO 2/4 v Mzukisi Mpinda, Debutant Sinethemba Bam W TKO 2/4 v Daniel Julies, Jimmy Mabundji W TKO 4/4 v Antonio Mayala
In other parts of the country: XolisaniNdongeni won Points against Thomson Mokwanacapturing the South African Lightweight title fight. Ndongeni now has captured 2 titles in 2 different weight classes. The young man only has 13 fights but his success is that of a seasoned veteran. Hekkie Butler won KO 1 against KarluisDiaztoretained the Minimum weightclass’ WBA and IBO championships.
