South African champion Asanda ‘Dynamite’ Gingqi thought Zolisa Batyi was not going to finish their fight when he dropped him in the second round during their title contest at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC) on Saturday evening.
Batyi beat the count and soldiered on shaking Gingqi with some heavy blows. In the end, Gingqi did enough to retain his SA featherweight title with Lulama Mtya scoring the fight 120-108, Alan Matakane 118-109 and Sithembele Tom 117-110.
“I’m very happy that I won against a tough opponent. Zolisa showed that he’s a tough boxer, especially after I dropped him in the second round. I thought that he was not going to finish the fight after I dropped him,” Gingqi said.
Gingqi insisted that he knew what to expect from Batyi as he’s his sparring partner. But they had to train under different trainers while preparing for the fight.
Gingqi remained with Khangelani Jack in Mdantsane while Batyi travelled more than 200 kilometres to be trained by Baba ‘Babes’ Makala in Somerset East.
“That was a real fight. He’s a tough boxer. He did well and there were times when he caught me. But I always knew that I was going to win the fight,” Gingqi remarked.
