Naidjala clings on to title

IMMANUEL ‘Prince’ Naidjala retained his WBO Interim African Bantamweight title by the skin of his teeth on Friday night when he beat Emilio Norfat of Kenya on a split decision.

Two judges scored the fight 118-110, 119-109 to Naidjala while a third scored it 112-111 to Norfat. In truth the fight was much closer than the score cards suggest and victory could have gone either way. Naidjala started cautiously and although Norfat was the busier boxer, Naidjala managed to land some telling punches on the counterattack.By the third round he staggered Norfat with a left hook and although he was all over the Kenyan, landing quick combinations, but Norfat managed to take his punches and see out the round.As the fight progressed, Norfat was the busier boxer, pushing the pace, while Naidjala countered with a jab and some swinging hooks that seldom found the target. In the seventh round Norfat trapped Naidjala on the ropes and pummelled away at his head and body but Naidjala managed to get out of trouble. By the tenth round Naidjala landed some big body shots, but Norfat shrugged them off and continued to push the pace with his jab and combinations. After the fight Naidjala told Namibia Sport that he injured his hand in the fifth round and had to change his tactics. ‘When I threw a jab I injured one of my fingers and I couldn’t jab hard after that anymore. I caught him a few times but it was too painful so I decided I would just do the basics, that I would only try to work on points and just try to jab and move away,’ he said. In the main supporting bout Tommy Hango shocked favourite Sacky Shikukutu with a victory on a split points decision to claim the vacant Namibian welterweight title. When Shikukutu staggered Hango with a right hook early in the first round it seemed as if the fight would soon be over. But Hango managed to recover and as the fight wore on he grew stronger while Shikukutu’s punches did not have much effect. In the end it was a very close fight and Hango got the verdict on a split decision, 95-94, 92-97, 96-94. In a welterweight fight Anthony Jaarman suffered his first pro defeat when Lucas Ndafoluma beat him on a fourth round technical knockout. Jaarman shaded the early rounds with an effective jab, but the end came suddenly in the fourth round when Ndafoluma landed a big blow to the head. A stunned Jaarman dropped his guard and staggered back as Ndafoloma rushed in to finish him off. In a lightweight fight Mathias Shiimbi maintained his unbeaten record with an impressive first round knockout victory over Sem Kambonde. Peter Malakia also won on a first round knockout against Zimbabwe’s Ndumiso Tshabangu. Tshabangu came out firing with all-out combinations but they hardly affected Malakia, and when he landed his first punch – a hook to the body, it was all over as Tshabangu slumped to the canvas. The results of other fights were as follows:Manfred Haimbanga beat Peter Philipus on a second round TKO. Mukwendje Toivo beat Dawid Egumbo on points over four rounds. Sakaria Lukas beat Matheus Johannes on points over four rounds. Steven Shimbonde beat Jason Mashala on points over four rounds. – namibiasport.com.na