Energy stars with stunning knockout

Phillipus ‘Energy’ Nghitumbwa won the WBO Global Super Bantamweight title with a stunning sixth-round knockout victory over Mxolisi Zuma of South Africa on Saturday night. 

Going into the fight, Zuma had a perfect record of 10 wins and 10 knockouts, but he suffered his first defeat after Nghitumbwa sent him crashing to the canvas with a powerful right hook four seconds before the end of the sixth round. 

The referee immediately put an end to the fight as Nghitumbwa and his fans celebrated a great victory that pushed him closer to a world title shot, according to his trainer and promoter Nestor Tobias.

“It was a great show. Energy is a world-class boxer. Zuma put up a great fight, but he was fighting against a machine – Energy is the Namibian machine and nobody can touch him. He’s ready for the world title and we’re going to work hard to get a world title shot,” he said.

Nghitumbwa stalked Zuma from the start, but the South African managed to keep him at bay with his jab in the opening rounds. Nghitumbwa, however, soon found his range and by the third round, put Zuma down with a left hook, although the South African managed to beat the count. 

Nghitumbwa continued to push the tempo and although Zuma kept him back with a snappy jab, Nghitumbwa’s relentless pressure eventually told as he sent him crashing to the canvas with a right hook at the end of the sixth round.

That win took Nghitumbwa’s professional record to 17 wins, of which 15 came via knockout, and two defeats, and Tobias said he should now get a top-five world ranking. 

“Naoya Inoue of Japan is the champion but I believe after his next fight, he will relinquish some titles because he is the super champion, the unified champion. He has all the belts – the IBF, WBA, WBO, and WBC titles, and Energy will now be right up there. I believe after this performance, he’s going to be in the top five,” he said.

“A top-five position will make him a mandatory challenger – it’s an easier way to get to the world title shot, especially when you’re from Africa. We’ve got connections worldwide and we’re going to use our connections to get him bigger fights,” he said.

In the main supporting bout, Frederick Nghutenanye won the national featherweight title after beating Abel Joseph on a unanimous points decision over 10 rounds. 

Nghutenanye had the longer reach and piled on the points with his snappy jab, but Joseph managed to connect with some powerful combinations on the inside. Nghutenanye, however, got the upper hand as the fight progressed, sending Joseph down for the count of eight in the eighth round, and all three judges scored it 96-93 in his favour.

That was Nghutenanye’s 12th successive victory as a professional, while Joseph now has a record of four wins and six losses.

Erastus Shapaka won the super flyweight national title after beating Fabian Lameck on a split points decision. Not much separated the boxers who gave the fans plenty to cheer about as they went toe to toe throughout the ten rounds. In the end, though, Shapaka was adjudged the winner with two of the judges scoring it 96-94 and 98-92 in his favour, while a third scored it 97-96 in Lameck’s favour.

Three of the other fights all had early stoppages with Nestor Thomas beating John Herman on a second-round knockout in a bantamweight fight, Martin Mukungu beating Andreas Endjala on a second-round knockout in a junior lightweight fight, and Paulus Fillipus beating Festus Simon on a second-round knockout in a super bantamweight fight.

The featherweight fight between Sem Mathew and Paulus Shonena was declared a technical draw.

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