Africa Boxing 14: Zingange Dethrones Mpontshane to Become South African Super Featherweight Champion

• Sibusiso Zingane upset the applecart at ESPN Africa Boxing 14 night, defeating his compatriot Phila Mpontshane to become the new South African Super Featherweight champion
• Mpontshane was looking to defend the title for the sixth time in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Johannesburg
• The fight was one of seven in the evening, with vacant ABU Female Flyweight title also on the line

Zingane proved to be a crowd favourite from the start, with an entire section wearing t-shirts with his name, cheering him on enthusiastically. Defending champion Mpontshane had every right to be confident, having held the title since 2016.

The challenger was instead not intimidated by the prospect of dethroning Mpontshane, dominating the fight from start to finish. The fight was indeed entertaining, with both boxers tearing at one another in hard-hitting fashion.

Zingane finished the fight strongly, emerging victorious by unanimous decision.

Earlier, Sydney Ntsemi and Nelson Mbhele slugged it out in a middleweight bout, going the full six rounds. Mbhele outlasted Ntsemi, winning by unanimous decision with a score of 40-36, 40-36, 40-36

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After that, Rofhiwa Maphupha and Thami Luthuli collided in a flyweight fight. Luthuli continuously landing punches on Maphupha, which proved to be the difference, as he also won by unanimous decision 40-36, 39-37, 39-37.

The first match of the main card saw Darrin Roussow going up against Thembani Mahlanga in a 6-round clash at super welterweight. Rossouw was too strong for Mahlanga, ending the fight in the sixth round by way of technical knockout.

Sithembiso Maduna and Abdul Aziz Kunert were up next in a featherweight match. Going the full distance of six rounds, Maduna was named the victor thanks to a split decision of 55-59, 58-56, 58-56.

An intriguing super lightweight encounter occurred between Denis Mwale and Gift Bholo. Mwale had only lost two fights in his career, while Bholo had a worrying 11 defeats. However, an upset unfolded, with Bholo winning by split decision 77-75, 75-77, 77-75.

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In the other title fight of the night, Simangele Hadebe saw off Halima Vunjabei to become the African Boxing Union Female Flyweight champion.

As reported on Sports Brief, the title was vacant, with the partisan crowd backing homegirl Hadebe.

After an engrossing fight, the judges ruled unanimously in her favour, though Vunjabei gave a very good account of herself.