Brave Heart defends his title

Northern boxing fans were treated to a title fight at a tournament dubbed 'The Kavango River Fray' at Rundu's trade fair hall on Saturday.
Kenya Kambowe
MTC Salute Boxing Academy's Jonas 'Brave Heart' Mateus won by unanimous decision against Tanzania's Nasibu Ramadhan to successfully defend his International Boxing Organisation (IBO) bantamweight title in Rundu on Saturday. It was a blood, sweat and tears encounter as both boxers gave it their all, wanting to leave the ring at the end of the fight with the title.

However, after 12 rounds of exciting boxing the fate of the two boxers lay in the hands of the judges, who scored the fight 118 – 110, 119 – 109 and 119 – 110 in favour of Mateus.

The crowd was ecstatic when Mateus was declared the winner.

The tournament was attended by dignitaries such as sport minister Erastus Uutoni, police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga, former health minister Bernard Haufiku, Kavango East regional governor Samuel Mbambo, Rundu mayor Isak Kandingu and Tsumeb mayor Mathews Hangula.

Miss Namibia 2018, Selma Kamanya, also attended the event and cheered loudly for Mateus. Besides the title fight, there were 10 undercard bouts which gave the spectators value for their money.

Shonena Paulus won by technical knockout (TKO) in the second round of his fight against Thomas Ndeitunga. An exciting fight between Bernhard Bernhard and Kristof Iipinge was declared a no-contest after Iipinge suffered an injury to his right arm. Japhet Amukwa stopped Nangolo Samuel with a TKO in the second round, while Ruben Kandimba beat Theodor Nujoma by unanimous decision.

One of the best undercard bouts was the one between John Shitilitha and Julius Sheetheni, which ended in a draw. Another memorable fight was the heavyweight bout between Kasera Sirongo and Johannes Nangolo. The two heavyweights kept the audience chanting from the first punch. Sirongo won by KO and the locals went wild with their celebrations.

The fight between Costa Frans and Lazarus Namalambo was decided on points, with Namalambo emerging victorious.

Alfeus Shilongo won in similar fashion against Chris Uketo.

Namibia's Nathanael Kakolola defeated Malawi's Robert Kachiza with a knockout in the second round of their scheduled eight-round bout.

The last undercard fight was between Vaino Nehemia and Martin Mukungu, with Mukungu winning on points.

KENYA KAMBOWE

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-25

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