Flores wins WBA-IBO super fight

MOISES ‘Chucky’ Flores scored a unanimous points decision over Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda to add the IBO super bantamweight world title to his WBA Interim world title strap on Saturday night.

The judges scored the bout 114-111, 115-112, 115-110 for the Mexican who delivered on his promise to emerge the victor and put on a great show inside the Ramatex textile factory in Windhoek.

Both fighters went in search of an early knock-out, with Flores looking most likely to win the contest via that route.

Flores had Ambunda down three times during the fight, although the Namibian’s camp claimed he had slipped – just like he had on 12 occasions throughout the fight.

Ambunda first went down midway through the opening round after the two fighters exchanged punches. He was up at the count of three and recovered to force Flores onto the back foot with a barrage of blows to the head.

Flores always looked a step ahead of his rival, as he used his superior reach to land jabs that set up combination shots to the body and head of the gutsy Ambunda.

After struggling to breach Flores’ defence in the first three rounds, Ambunda had some joy in round four when he landed chopping right/left combinations after setting Flores up with a left jab.

Ambunda kept up the work rate in round five when he landed more jabs with his left and threw several combinations as his opponent retreated.

However, the Mexican countered Ambunda’s attempt to take control of the fight by bossing the next three rounds to all but secure victory.

Flores caught Ambunda with a series of body shots and had him down on the canvas with a right hook just before the end of round six. Again Ambunda got up, this time after an eight count.

Ambunda had to pick himself up again in the seventh as Flores found his range with ease to floor his rival with an uppercut.

Sensing he was behind on the scorecard, Ambunda came out determined to knock out Flores as he applied pressure in rounds 10 and 11 throwing several wild shots that more often missed the target and saw the Namibian consistently lose his footing.

Flores expertly continued to frustrate Ambunda by ducking and holding for much of the final round to see out the fight and claim the win.

The night’s main supporting bout, the WBO Africa Interim Lightweight title fight between Paulus Moses and South African Thompson Mokwana, ended prematurely as it was declared a no contest following an accidental clash of heads in round one.

Meanwhile, promising Namibian prospect Sakaria Lukas beat Tanzania’s Mohamed Mutumla on a fourth round KO to claim the WBO Africa Interim Featherweight title.

Sacky Shikukutu beat Jason Bedeman of South Africa on a unanimous points decision over 12 rounds to claim the WBO Africa Interim Welterweight title. The judges scored the fight 119-108, 117-10, 117-109 in Shikukutu’s favour.

Immanuel Naidjala’s bout against Klaas Mboyane of South Africa for the WBO Intercontinental Bantamweight title failed to materialise.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.