South African champion Cowin Ray was prepared to go the full distance with Andile Mntungwa, however, their fight lasted just under nine minutes.
Ray became the second boxer to inflict a stoppage loss to Mntungwa when he stopped him in the third round at The Galleria in Johannesburg on Thursday evening.
The lad from Pretoria stopped Mntungwa to make a successful defence of his South African super-middleweight title. Ray’s flurry of body and head blows forced fight referee Simon Mokadi to intervene on behalf of Mntungwa.
“Andile, I respect him. Coming to this fight, he was gonna be a tough competitor. I was a ready for a 12-round war. I fought sluggish in the first two rounds,” Ray said.
Ray was making the first defence of the SA title he won when he defeated Frank Rodrigues at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park in September last year.
“I’m gonna hold on to this title as long as I can and try to defend it as many times as possible,” the champion said after stopping Mntungwa.
Ray now has eight victories with six knockouts while Mntungwa from Cato Ridge in KwaZulu-Natal dropped to six wins (four knockouts), five defeats and a draw.
Meanwhile, Jarred Silverman is another boxer who has managed to stop Mntungwa from Cato Ridge. He stopped Mntungwa at the Emperors Palace in March 2014.
