Tete wins IBF Intercontinental title

By Ron Jackson

In a wild swinging affair South Africa’s Makazole Tete won on a fifth round stoppage against Raymond Tabugon of the Philippines to claim the vacant IBF Intercontinental junior bantamweight title at the Orient Theatre in East London on Friday night.

After a quiet opening round Tete (51.74kg) was stunned by a big right hand to the head and resorted to holding before the referee deducted a point. There was little in it in rounds three and four with Tete doing enough to shade the rounds.

In round five a right to the head sent Tabugon (51.20kg) down for a count. However, Tabugon never fully recovered from the knockdown and after another barrage of punches from the South African that left the Filipino staggering around the ring, his corner ignoring the possibility of a disqualification jumped into the ring to save their fighter, as the referee waved the fight off at 2 minutes 15 seconds into the round.

Possibly the best thing about the fight was the competent handling of the contest by referee Deon Dwarte who took control from the beginning and even wiped up the water from the canvas.

Tete improved his record to 16 -1-1; 11 and Tabugon’s record dropped to 18-5-1; 8.

The unused judges were Neville Hotz, Simon Xamlashe and Jaap van Niewenhuizen.

MBOYIYA WINS SLUGFEST

In an untidy slugfest South Africa’s Aphiwe Mboyiya (Boyiya) (57.88kg), with height and reach advantages, came back from a big knockdown in the first round to win on a unanimous 12 round points decision against Filipino Jerry Castroverde (58.90kg) to claim the vacant IBF Intercontinental junior lightweight title.

Both fighters were throwing punches from too far out and missing badly and Mboyiya was deducted a point by referee Jaap van Niewenhuizen in the fourth round for holding.

However, in the later rounds the South African dominated against the tiring Filipino and was a clear winner at the end, as the judges Simon Xamlashe and Deon Dwarte both scored it 116-109 and judge Neville Hotz handed in a score of 116-110.

Mboyiya improved his record to 14-2-1; 5 and Castroverde’s record dropped to 9-3; 5.

BEST FIGHT OF THE NIGHT

In the best fight of the night with toe-to-toe action throughout and three titles on the line, minimumweight Siphamandla Baleni (47.40kg) outpointed Daluxo Mancotywa (47.00kg) over 12 rounds.

The judges scored it 115-112 (Allen Matakane), 117-111 (Ace Makaluza) and 116-111 (Lulama Mtya).

Baleni retained his WBA Pan African title and won the South African and vacant IBO Intercontinental titles.

The referee was Tony Nyangiwe.

The tournament was presented by Ayanda Matiti of Xaba Promotions