Takalani Ndlovu Prepares For Mathebula Rematch On 3/24

By Jake Donovan

Takalani Ndlovu would love nothing more than to take a big swing at some of the new faces atop the 122 lb. division. First, he is forced to take care of old business, as the veteran prepares for a March 24 rematch with countryman Jeffrey Mathebula in a mandatory title defense

The bout takes place at the historic Carnival City in Brakpan, South Africa, paired up with another title fight rematch as strawweight titlist Nkosinathi Joyi hopes to settle up unfinished business with Katsunari Tokayama.

“We could not have asked for a better grudge match than the Ndlovu-Mathebula (rematch) for our return to Carnival City,” exclaims a thrilled Branco Mllenkovich, who promotes both fighters. “This is the fight that needs no marketing because it markets itself after the war the two fighters waged in their first bout.”

Their first fight, which took place in Sept. ’10, was a 12-round war with Ndlovu (33-6, 18KO) prevailing by split decision. Aside from the one obscene scorecard of 118-109, the night was memorable for all of the right reasons and also put Ndlovu back in line to finally capture a title.

The 34-year old had twice come up short against Steve Molitor – both times on the road in Canada – but the third time proved to be a charm as his promoter was able to win the purse bid and bring home to South Africa. Ndlovu finally prevailed, taking a surprisingly wide decision for his first major title.

His lone defense came more than seven months later, taking a hard-fought decision on the road over Giovanni Caro in his opponent’s native Mexico.

After the win, Ndlovu – who made the road trip to prove to the rest of the division his willingness to travel in order to make the best fights – sought challenges with then-titlist Jorge Arce, along with incoming Nonito Donaire and Japan’s Toshiaki Nishioka, arguably the best in the division. 

The backup plan was always Mathebula, as the safer route for a titlist looking to remain active is generally to get his mandatory defense out of the way before proceeding to bigger opportunities. 

Mathebula (25-3-2, 14KO) enters the fight on a two-fight win streak, including a win over Oscar Chauke in their June ’11 title eliminator. 

A member of South Africa’s 2000 Olympic boxing squad, Mathebula has endured hard luck as a pro. In addition to his points loss to Ndlovu, the 32-year old also came up just short in a disputed points loss to then-unified 122 lb. titlist Celestino Caballero in April ’09.

His hope is that a title defense in his backyard will change things around much in the same fashion of his countryman and repeat opponent a year ago.

“Justice will be served this time around,” Mathebula simply stated in assessing his chances of reversing his last loss.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com