Mzuvukile Magwaca won the WBA international bantamweight title when he beat Jose Gonzalez on points in East London on Friday night.
The South African won the 12-round bout at the Orient Theatre 116-112 on two cards and 116-111 on the third.
Magwaca worked his way to a deserved victory, if not a particularly dominating one, taking his record to 17-1, including nine knockouts and a technical draw. Gonzalez dropped to 26-5, with 12 wins inside the distance.
The two produced a grand-stand finish that had the spectators dancing in the aisles as Gonzalez threw everything at the new champion in the final round.
The advantages of a superior reach was clear from the start as Magwaca kept the Mexican at the end of his jab and Gonzalez battled to get in close enough to do serious damage.
Gonzalez switched from southpaw to orthodox halfway through the bout and clipped Magwaca with a few left hooks to the jaw every time the South African let his concentration slip.
With veteran SA referee Stan Christodoulou providing a lesson in positioning to aspiring ring officials, the fight turned into an intriguing contest.
Earlier, Siyabonga Siyo confirmed his status as one of South Africa’s best prospects when he beat Lito Dante of the Philippines on points over twelve rounds to claim the vacant WBA international minimumweight title.
The South African won 115-113, 119-111 and 118-110.
Siyo, from Duncan Village, showed nifty footwork, good hand speed and a wide variety of punches as he outsmarted the aggressive Dante, who suffered a cut under his right eye in the fifth round.
In the seventh, Siyo slipped and his right foot went beneath the bottom rope as he went down, apparently in agony. The referee gave him time to recover and he fought on without showing any discomfort.
Dante, who certainly has a good chin, looked dangerous enough but was unable to land the pay-off punch on the evasive South African, who could probably show Floyd Mayweather a few dancing steps.
Siyo, whose brother Luzuko fought on the undercard, improved his record to 9-0, including four wins inside the distance. Dante’s fell to 9-5, with three draws and five shortcut wins.
Sithembiso Faye and Lindile Tshemese threw too few punches, and missed too many, in their super-flyweight bout over ten rounds and produced a rather boring draw -- 97-94 for Faye, 98-95 for Tshemese and 96-96.
Faye picked up the pace after three uneventful rounds and Tshemese, a southpaw, responded by also upping his work rate. Faye used his reach advantage well to keep the pressure on his opponent but convinced only one of the judges that he deserved to win.
Faye’s record now stands at 9-0-1 with only one knockout and Tshemese’s at 6-2-1; 2.
The bout should have been over twelve rounds for the vacant SA title but was downgraded to a non-title ten-rounder.
Former SA and IBO intercontinental light-flyweight champion Luzuko Siyo stopped Mfundo Gwayana, also a former national champion, in the seventh round of an exciting non-title flyweight bout.
Gwayana, 31, started impressively but soon lost his composure as Siyo took control and finished the job 56 seconds into the penultimate round.
Referee Lulama Mtya stepped in just as Gwayana’s corner threw in the towel as the veteran went down from a left after taking considerable punishment in the previous rounds.
Siyo, from Duncan Village, improved his record to 14-3, including eleven shortcut victories. Gwayana, from nearby Mdantsane, dropped to 18-9, with three draws and three wins inside the distance.
Simphiwe Lusizi needed exactly one minute to stop Bongani Ngceshe in a middleweight bout that was scheduled for six. Lusizi had fought at the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Luvuyo Mputhi beat Ricardo Heneke on points -- 39-36 on two cards and 38-37 -- in a lightweight bout between two boxers making their professional debut.
The women’s flyweight bout between Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels and Argentina’s Mariana Gisele Clausi produced more excitement and better boxing than the bout between Faye and Tshemese.
Jegels won by technical knockout -- 1 minute 47 into the eighth round.
The tournament was promoted by Andile Sinidile’s Sijuta Promotions.