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It was a real night of the
underdogs on Friday November
22 at a packed Cape Sun Hotel in
Cape Town, South Africa, as
Zimbabwean Elvis Moyo and late
replacement Themba Tshicila won
World Boxing Federation (WBF)
All Africa titles at Heavyweight
and Super Featherweight
respectively.
Having fought to a controversial
draw in their original encounter
last March, Moyo put all the
controversy aside in this
rematch and beat local favorite
Osborne Machimane with a smart
tactical performance, showing it
was no fluke that he gave
current WBF World Cruiserweight
champion Danie Venter a torrid
time in his last bout.
After ten rounds of boxing,
judges Elroy Marshal and Rasie
Erasmus scored the fight 99-91
and 98-92 for Moyo, while judge
Clifford Mbelu seemed to be way
off the mark with his 95-95
score.
With his fine performance going
out live on television in
Zimbabwe, the new WBF All Africa
Heavyweight Champion improved
his very deceiving professional
record to 4-5-2 (1), while
former South African Champion
Machimane drops to 18-8-2 (13).
Themba Tshicila came in on just
a few days notice, but was too
clever and awkward from his
southpaw stance for Cape
Town-based Zimbabwean Nkululeko
“Felix” Vengenayi, winning a
split decision. Floored in the
third round, Tshicila came back
strong to put Vengenayi down in
the sixth and finished the bout
in full control.
Eddie Marshall and Rassie
Erasmus scored the bout in favor
of Tshicila by 96-92 and 95-93,
while Elroy Marshall voted for
Vengenayi with a 96-94 tally.
Tshicila improved his record to
26-11-3 (7), Vengenayi falls to
8-4 (7).
Also on the bill, promoted by
Kalakoda Promotions, was WBF All
Africa Cruiserweight Champion
Kevin Lerena, fighting at
heavyweight against the
inexperienced but tough as teak
Ben Marcel from D.R.C. Lerena
won on points, moving his record
to 9-0 (6).
In an emotional moment, WBF
President Howard Goldberg
awarded an honorary WBF World
title belt to former World
Heavyweight Champion and South
African legend Gerrie Coetzee,
for his commitment and
contribution to boxing. A
visibly touched Coetzee received
a standing ovation from the
large crowd.
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