Sports

Drama as Zim boxer rejects results

Tefo Letshikgwane (black pants) during his proffesional bout against Bongani Makorova (yellow pants) PIC: DAILYNEWSBW
 
Tefo Letshikgwane (black pants) during his proffesional bout against Bongani Makorova (yellow pants) PIC: DAILYNEWSBW

The two boxers clashed during the second edition of the Boxing Fight Night Championship that was held at Fairgrounds Holdings over the weekend. After the bout, it was announced that Letshikwane was the winner and was retaining the title that he won in April.

Makorova did not take kindly to the outcome of the fight saying he was the winner. The judges had scored the fight 78-74, 78-74 and 79-73. The title fight was set for eight rounds. “This is not boxing at all.

How come they are saying I lost this with unanimous decision, how come? Is it because I am a foreigner from Zimbabwe? You decided to give the fight to your boxer,” he lashed out to the promoter, Bond Ngubula of Bond Boxing Promotion. Makorova requested to see all the scoring cards because he believed that he was the winner. He stated that he dominated most of the rounds, leading on points. Makorova said during the fight he was aggressive while his opponent spent most of the time running around the ring.

He further said that Letshikwane was given the title because he is from Botswana. Makorova added that he was disappointed with the results. For his part, Ngubula said there was no point in arguing with Makorova because what he was saying was his opinions. “To me, Makorova worked hard during the fight but Letshikwane worked smarter.

I was not judging, he was not judging so we have to believe the outcome of the judges,” he said. In another interesting bout, former World Boxing Federation (WBF) International Super Bantamweight champion, Onkarabile ‘Scara' Mothibedi was knocked out by professional boxing debutant, Kago Raokgwathile of Bond Boxing Club in the second round of the six. Raokgwathile caught Mothibedi with a right jab sending him to the floor. Mothibedi told SportMonitor he was shocked when the referee counted him out and stopped the fight. “I slipped while retreating; it was not the effect of a blow from my opponent. The referee was too quick to stop the fight.

I even asked the referee why he stopped the fight because I was fine to continue. Just like that, it was over. But that is how things come about when you face an opponent from the promoter’s stable,” he said.

Mothibedi said they always face such challenges but when they complain they are told to keep quiet. He said it is difficult to win a bout against a boxer from a promoting stable because even the referee is under pressure to satisfy the promoter.

Lentswe Zwinila gave South African boxer, Rudolph Roux a baptism of fists winning the International Middleweight contest with a convincing unanimous decision score of 60-54, 60-54 and 60-54. Roux was making professional boxing debut, which saw him being outclassed by Zwinila the entire fight. Kobamelo Molatlhegi had a perfect start to his professional boxing career, stealing a win from Kennedy Sebekedi. Tshepang Gomotho stepped into the ring to pick an easy win from Brian Galelemogwe in the National Featherweight Contest.