By Mesuli Zifo
The boxing tournament scheduled to be held at Mhluzi Ext 7 Hall, Middelburg, South Africa on Saturday would be just another meaningless show featuring an SA title fight if it did not involve one Nkululeko Mhlongo.
Because of the performance he displayed against former world champion Isaac Hlatshwayo last October when he bludgeoned Hlatshwayo to the canvas en route to losing a highly controversial decision, Mhlongo’s stock has risen so much that his bouts have now become eagerly anticipated affairs.
Then an unknown and unheralded boxer, Mhlongo was matched against Hlatshwayo in Hlatshwayo’s first fight since shockingly surrendering the IBF welterweight crown to Slovenian Jan Zaveck via a third round stoppage defeat.
Even though Hlatshwayo meekly surrendered to Zaveck, detractors still gave him a benefit of the doubt, arguing that perhaps he underestimated the Slovenian and that the defeat would serve as wake-up call for him to redeem himself in his next bout.
With Mhlongo’s only claim to glory being the champion of the development programme coined Baby Champs, Hlatshwayo who had established himself as a world class fighter by winning the IBO title in the lightweight division and beating the would-be undisputed world lightweight champion Nate Campbell before adding the IBF welterweight to his accomplishments, the fight was a potential mismatch on paper.
But the towering Mhlongo not only held his own, he floored Hlatshwayo hard and continued to beat him to the punch for the duration of the fight only for the judges to deny him what would have been his biggest upset victory.
Although he was denied the deserved win, Mhlongo left the ring with his head held high while alarm bells were raised over Hlatshwayo’s status as the world class fighter.
Mhlongo proved that he was not a one-hit-wonder when he stopped the experience Colin Mayisela in four rounds in his next bout while Hlatshwayo’s career continued to plummet after he was knocked out in three rounds by Tunisian-born Australian Naoufel Ben Rabah just a fortnight ago.
On Saturday Mhlongo will be looking to continue with his meteoric rise when he faces Page Tshesane for the vacant SA junior middleweight title.
The title was stripped from Tshepo Mashego for failing to defend it within the stipulated period.
Tshesane who has enjoyed a three-fight winning streak since he moved up to the junior middleweight division, suffered all his three losses and two draws in 12 fights in the welterweight division.
Although his fight record is less impressive than Mhlongo’s eight wins and two losses, Tshesane can argue that he has faced far more credible opponents in the ring, which include IBO title contender Chris Van Heerden whom he held to a draw before getting stopped in 12 rounds for the SA crown.
Tshesane’s other losses were against the then knockout artist Kgotso Motau and Bongani Mwelase who was an unbeaten hot prospect when he knocked out Tshesane in the first round.