The province of Mpumalanga will have its first boxing tournament of the new financial year when Bonginkosi Nhlapho takes on Simphiwe Mbhele in a vacant World Boxing Federation (WBF) Africa light-heavyweight title fight.
This clash between Nhlapho and Mbhele is pencilled for this coming Saturday at Event City in Middelburg at this tournament, which is co-promoted by Rise Boxing Promotion and Bonglez Boxing Promotion.
“My preparations have gone very well. I don’t think my opponent is going to give me problems. I had a few sparring sessions with him early last year,” Nhlapho said.
“I don’t think this fight will go beyond the fourth round. He’s not a light-heavyweight boxer. I want to show him something during the fight.”
Nhlapho, who lost to Michael Head three months ago, thought he would fight for the South African title before getting into WBF action. But his loss to Head put paid to his chances of challenging for the vacant SA light-heavyweight title.
“I didn’t expect to fight for a WBF title. I had thought that I would fight for the SA title first, but I didn’t get the result I wanted in my last fight even though I still think I did enough to win,” Nhlapho remarked.
Mbhele will go to the showdown with Nhlapho on the back of a win over Martin Maswanganyi in February this year.
Meanwhile, Manqoba Magubane is set to defend his Mpumalanga junior-lightweight title in a duel with Vuyo Maphosa in the main supporting bout. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
