Kazakh boxer Batyrzhan Jukembayev turned Xolani ‘Tiger’ Mcotheli into a pussycat when he stopped the former South African welterweight champion during their clash at the Sadu Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.
Jukembayev, who is now based in Quebec, Canada, stopped Mcotheli in the sixth round. Mcotheli was behind on all three judges’ scorecards when he got stopped.
This was the second successive loss for Mcotheli, who was beaten by reigning SA welterweight champion Prince Dlomo during a rematch at the Booysens Boxing Club in Johannesburg in May.
Meanwhile, former SA middleweight champion Nkululeko Mhlongo suffered his second stoppage loss this year as he lost to 24-year-old Sadriddin Akhmedov from Kazakhstan.
Unbeaten Akhmedov, who is based in Montreal, Canada, has now won all his 13 fights with 11 of those victories coming via knockouts.
The 40-year-old Mhlongo from Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal lost his SA middleweight crown when he was stopped by Alexandra’s John Bopape in the 11th round at the Mangaung Indoor Centre in Bloemfontein in April.
