Hitman retains Pan African title

NAMIBIA’S champion boxer Paulus ‘Hitman’ Moses retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) Pan African welterweight title after being pushed to the limit by Zimbabwe’s Mischek Kondwane in a trilling fight in Windhoek on Monday night.

Hitman won by unanimous decision in round 12, but his path to victory was not easy, as Kondwane stood his ground well by refusing to give in to the punches of the hard-hitting Namibian. The Zimbabwean was more experienced and his tactics worked well to keep Moses in the fight, as the Namibian was looking for an early technical knockout, which he did not get.The first three rounds were like water on fire as both boxers were fuming with a fantastic fighting spirit to take out each other, but matters calmed down in round four, when both fighters realised that it would not be easy to down each other instantly.Round five, six and seven were mostly even, but the punches were rocking as both fighters tried to keep momentum.Round eight exposed the Hitman’s weakness of not following up his punches at crucial moments that could have seen Kondwane hitting the canvas.The next round clearly showed that Hitman was supposed to wrap things up as Kondwane looked out of sorts, but his technical know-how also let him down in causing the damage.At this stage, Kondwane hanged in there as a warrior and heavily relied on his knees to carry him through to the next rounds.A bit of encouragement from about 600 spectators who filled the venue in round ten gave Hitman some encouragement and a reminder about retaining his belt he won against South Africa’s Joni Simpiwe at the same venue last year.He came out firing, but Kondwane kept his head low through that round with the aim of getting the fight to round 12.Both boxers benefited from the first two minutes of round 11, but Kondwane was on the receiving end in the last minute, with Moses exchanging powerful left and right shots to the body and the head.The Namibian took the fight to the visitor in the last round and he showed great class by finishing him off in the first two minutes of round 12.Kondwane fell and stood up and embraced his opponent, thanking him for one of the toughest fights they had ever fought.It went the distance.Moses is now undefeated in 15 fights, while Kondwane goes home with a bloody nose, but with lots of pride as he fought bravely overall.In another interesting fight on the same evening, Wilberforce Shihepo survived probably one of his most difficult fights, when South Africa’s Raymond Nyathi gave him a good run for his money.The Namibian was kept on his toes by the strong and rather overweight visitor until Nyathi succumbed in the sixth round to perfect right and left hooks from Shihepo.In other undercard fights, Namibia’s Simon Shikudi defeated Doctor Nstele on points in the flyweight division, while Junias Amunyela was tops in the lightweight category when he stopped Hendry Ngubane to win on points.Bantamweight pugilist Peteneni Elago had the quickest fight on the night with a technical knockout just 30 seconds into the first round over Abraham Leghaba.Namibia’s Vikapita Meroro was in equally devastating form when he knocked out Theopillis Mbakane in the second round of their super-middleweight fight.Junior welterweight Jason Naule also had a quick fight when he ousted Johannes Motlala in the first round of their six-round-bout.In his professional debut fight, junior middleweight fighter Tommy Hango was unstoppable when he roped his fellow countryman Leon Jansen with a magnificent technical knockout in round one.Jansen’s height let him down against Hango, who is taller and has more upper-body strength.All boxers in the undercards who fought against the Namibians are from South Africa.The Zimbabwean was more experienced and his tactics worked well to keep Moses in the fight, as the Namibian was looking for an early technical knockout, which he did not get.The first three rounds were like water on fire as both boxers were fuming with a fantastic fighting spirit to take out each other, but matters calmed down in round four, when both fighters realised that it would not be easy to down each other instantly.Round five, six and seven were mostly even, but the punches were rocking as both fighters tried to keep momentum.Round eight exposed the Hitman’s weakness of not following up his punches at crucial moments that could have seen Kondwane hitting the canvas.The next round clearly showed that Hitman was supposed to wrap things up as Kondwane looked out of sorts, but his technical know-how also let him down in causing the damage.At this stage, Kondwane hanged in there as a warrior and heavily relied on his knees to carry him through to the next rounds.A bit of encouragement from about 600 spectators who filled the venue in round ten gave Hitman some encouragement and a reminder about retaining his belt he won against South Africa’s Joni Simpiwe at the same venue last year.He came out firing, but Kondwane kept his head low through that round with the aim of getting the fight to round 12.Both boxers benefited from the first two minutes of round 11, but Kondwane was on the receiving end in the last minute, with Moses exchanging powerful left and right shots to the body and the head.The Namibian took the fight to the visitor in the last round and he showed great class by finishing him off in the first two minutes of round 12.Kondwane fell and stood up and embraced his opponent, thanking him for one of the toughest fights they had ever fought.It went the distance.Moses is now undefeated in 15 fights, while Kondwane goes home with a bloody nose, but with lots of pride as he fought bravely overall.In another interesting fight on the same evening, Wilberforce Shihepo survived probably one of his most difficult fights, when South Africa’s Raymond Nyathi gave him a good run for his money.The Namibian was kept on his toes by the strong and rather overweight visitor until Nyathi succumbed in the sixth round to perfect right and left hooks from Shihepo.In other undercard fights, Namibia’s Simon Shikudi defeated Doctor Nstele on points in the flyweight division, while Junias Amunyela was tops in the lightweight category when he stopped Hendry Ngubane to win on points.Bantamweight pugilist Peteneni Elago had the quickest fight on the night with a technical knockout just 30 seconds into the first round over Abraham Leghaba.Namibia’s Vikapita Meroro was in equally devastating form when he knocked out Theopillis Mbakane in the second round of their super-middleweight fight.Junior welterweight Jason Naule also had a quick fight when he ousted Johannes Motlala in the first round of their six-round-bout.In his professional debut fight, junior middleweight fighter Tommy Hango was unstoppable when he roped his fellow countryman Leon Jansen with a magnificent technical knockout in round one.Jansen’s height let him down against Hango, who is taller and has more upper-body strength.All boxers in the undercards who fought against the Namibians are from South Africa.