Sikho ‘Sequence’ Nqothole dished up a polished performance on his way to registering a unanimous decision victory over Brit Charlie Edwards at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, early on Saturday morning, South African time.
Nqothole started very well, landing some nice punches he gave the former World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight champion no room to maneuver. And that ploy helped him as Edwards tried to come back in the later rounds, but it was way too late as Nqothole had stolen the fight.
And after an impressive performance, all the three judges were in unison – Nqothole had done enough to win the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-bantamweight elimination bout. The scorecards read 116-113 (Michael Alexander), 116-112 (Sylvain Leblanc) and 117-111 (Clifford Mbelu).
Nqothole improved his record to 22 wins with 13 knockouts, three losses and a draw. On the other hand, Edwards dropped to 21 victories with seven stoppages and three defeats.
The Mthatha-born Nqothole will challenge the winner of the IBF title fight between reigning champion Willibaldo Garcia Perez from Mexico and Australian Andrew Moloney who meet in Aichi, Japan, on Saturday next week.
