Simon KO’s Groenewald

HARRY Simon maintained his unbeaten record when he knocked out Ruben Groenewald of South Africa in the first round of their light-heavyweight fight on Saturday evening.

Fighting at a packed SKW Hall, Groenewald came out attacking but Simon put him down with his first serious punch, a powerful hook to the body.
Groenewald managed to get up by the count of eight but Simon was immediately all over him and trapped him with a flurry of blows on the ropes.
Groenewald once again went down and although he soon got up, his corner threw in the towel and it was all over after only 1 minute 23 seconds of the first round.
Simon’s fans erupted in joy and celebrations but many fans also booed and showed their displeasure at the quick end to the fight.
Many fans thought that the fight had been fixed because Groenewald hardly put up a fight and it seemed as if he was just interested in a quick pay cheque, rumoured to be in the region of N$150 000, while Simon was said to have received N$200 000.
Furthermore it was not clear whether the fight had been officially sanctioned since both boxers were way over the light heavyweight limit of 79,40kg, with Groenewald coming in at 94,50kg and Simon at 91kg.
If that bout had a quick ending, the main curtain-raiser fight was just as disappointing as Albinus Felesianu knocked out Charles Kauseni of Zambia in a featherweight fight after only 1:07 of the first round.
After sizing up his opponent, Felesianu put Kauseni down with his first powerful punch, a strong left hook to the head. Kauseni sank to his knees and didn’t seem interested in continuing as he was counted out on his knees.
In a welterweight fight over six rounds, Pohamba Mandume received strong opposition from Ezaya Chilufya of Zambia with the fight ending in a draw. One judge scored the fight 58-56 to Chilufya while the other two scored it 57-57.
Mandume was a bit wild and missed a lot, while Chilufya jabbed more. In the third round both boxers gave as good as they got as they slugged it out on the ropes, but the final rounds three rounds was a bit of an anticlimax as both boxers held on a lot and the tempo dropped.
In the best fight of the night, Gotlieb Ndokosho gave a great performance to knock out Ronald Tamani of Zimbabwe in the sixth round of their featherweight fight.
Ndokosho took control of the fight from the start, and laid into Tamani with strong combinations to head and body that regularly had the crowd up on its feet, baying for more.
But the Zimbabwean refused to give up and it seemed he would survive for the full six rounds, but in the final round Ndokosho sent him to the canvas with a strong left hook for the count of 10.
In a featherweight fight over six rounds Joseph Katenda scored a unanimous points victory over Tinashe Madziwana of Zimbabwe, with the judges scoring the fight 59-55, 59-55, 58-56 in his favour.
In a lightweight fight, Chris Ukelo beat Elia Shekuza on a third round technical knockout after the referee stopped the fight due to a cut over Shekuza’s right eye.
In a bantamweight fight, Timoteus Shuulula made a triumphant professional debut after beating Johannes Gabriel on points over four rounds.
It was a close fight that could have gone either way, but in the end the three judges scored the fight 39-37, 39-37, 38-38 in Shuulula’s favour.
– namibiasport.com.na

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