Nhlanhla ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’ Tyirha’s preparations for Sunday’s clash against Filipino boxer Arnel ‘The Sniper’ Lofranco have received a fillip as he has returned to world ratings more than two years since he dropped out.
Tyirha, who faces Lofranco in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) Intercontinental minimumweight title contest at the Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town, is now rated 12th by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
“We are very happy with the WBC rating our boxer. This shows that we are working and doing something right. I have always maintained that Tyirha belongs in world ratings,” Tyirha’s trainer Mzamo ‘Chief’ Njekanye said.
On the upcoming fight, Njekanye said: “Our preparations were superb and we have worked very hard. We are going to win this fight and get back to the IBF ratings.”
Previously, the Mdantsane-born Tyirha was rated by the world’s top four bodies until he suffered a shock loss to Malawian journeyman George Kandulo at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC) early in July 2023.
Before losing by a sixth round stoppage to Kandulo, Tyirha was rated sixth by the WBC, 12th in the World Boxing Association (WBA) ratings, fifth by the IBF and was seventh in the World Boxing Organisation (WBO).
The former South African junior-flyweight champion will take a record of 11 victories with two knockouts and three losses to the fight while the 21-year-old Lofranco has eight wins with five stoppages and a loss.
Lofranco will try to succeed where his Filipino compatriots – Orrie Silvestre, Esneth Domingo, Jaysever Abcede and Joey Canoy – have failed before as they all lost their fights to Tyirha.
Meanwhile, Tyirha is already in Cape Town having arrived in the Mother City on Saturday last week and Njekanye will join him on Thursday. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
