IMMANUEL Naidjala scored a sensational fourth-round knockout over Shabani Kilumbelumbe of Tanzania to retain his WBO Africa Interim Bantamweight title on Saturday night.
Naidjala’s speed and power overwhelmed the Tanzanian, who went down early in the fourth round after a flurry of blows to the head and body. Kilumbelumbe managed to get up but he didn’t last much longer as a Naidjala hook sent him crashing to the canvas and he was counted out after 1 minute 37 seconds.It was a great display by Naidjala, who impressed with his quick hand speed from the opening round. The Tanzanian though was a tough customer, landing some combinations himself, but by the third round Naidjala took control as he unleashed a flurry of blows that had the crowd roaring on its approval. The end came soon as Naidjala finished Kilumbelumbe off in the fourth round to register his 16th successive victory as a professional fighter. ‘Kilumbelumbe was a good fighter and a good match but in the end my speed was too much for him and he couldn’t handle my power. He managed to manoeuvre through the first few rounds but when I caught him with a punch to the body, I saw he’s not strong on the body and then I knew he would go down,’ he said. The victory capped a great evening for Namibian boxing after it recently won three African awards at the World Boxing Organisation’s convention in New York. The WBO’s African president Andrew Smale handed out awards to Paulus Ambunda, who won the WBO African Boxer of the Year award; Nestor Tobias, who won the WBO African Promoter of the Year award, and Naidjala, who won the WBO African Fight of the Year award after his victory against Mwazi Mzolisa of South Africa in March.NATIONAL HONOURSamuel Kapapu retained his Namibian lightweight title with a hard-fought unanimous points victory against Peter Malakia. Kapapu impressed with some heavy body shots in the opening rounds, but Malakia came back and staggered Kapapu with a hook in the fifth round. Kapapu recovered and continued to push the pace with a strong jab and heavy body shots, but in the ninth round he was knocked to the canvas after a strong hook by Malakia. Kapapu beat the count to get up and went on to finish strongly to secure a unanimous points decision, with the three judges scoring the fight 96-93, 96-94 and 97-92 in his favour. Hamunyela Eradius beat Nicola Mutonora of Zimbabwe on a unanimous points decision over four rounds. Eradius launched some furious assaults but the Zimbabwean managed to stand his ground and see out the fight. The three judges scored the fight 40-36, 40-36, 39-37 in Eradius’s favour. In other fights, Simon Baluka Johannes beat Celestinus Haingura on a unanimous points decision over four rounds, with all three judges scoring the fight 40-36, while Namibia’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jafet Utoni made a winning professional debut after beating Ntando Simbanda of Zimbabwe 40-36 on all three judges’ scorecards. Elias Nashivela made quick work of Martin Tsuma of Zimbabwe, knocking him out after only 1:05m of the first round, while Sakaria Lukas also recorded a quick victory, as he knocked out Ndumiso Tshabangu of Zimbabwe after 1:40m of the first round.
