One of South Africa’s most talented boxers Nhlanhla ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’ Tyirha has admitted that he had to change his fight plan a bit before he overcame Orlie Silvestre from the Philippines at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC) on Sunday.
The Mdantsane boxer defeated Silvestre on points to win the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) Intercontinental junior-flyweight title by a unanimous decision.
“I came up against a very tough opponent. He was fit and was not an easy opponent. However, I managed to go through him and won the fight,” Tyirha said.
The 23-year-old former South African junior-flyweight champion also admitted that his punches were not that powerful thus he didn’t stop Silvestre.
“I did everything during the fight. I threw what I thought were hard punches as well, but he didn’t give up. I had to resort to using my jab in order to overcome him. I missed him a lot before I started concentrating on using my jab,” Tyirha remarked.
Silvestre was the fourth Pinoy boxer to have fought against Tyirha in less than two years. Tyirha has defeated Silvestre’s compatriots Esneth Domingo, Jaysever Abcede and Joey Canoy.
