Uushona wins WBO African interim welterweight title

TYSON Uushona won the WBO African interim welterweight title when he beat South Africa’s Colin Mayisela on a unanimous points decision on Saturday night.

Uushona was pushed all the way by the tough South African, who gave as good as he got, but all three judges awarded the fight to Uushona, with two scoring it 118-110 and a third 119-117.A crowd of about 3 000 fans packed the Kuisebmond Community Hall and spurred Uushona on from the start. After a cagey start, Uushona started landing some telling combinations, but Mayisela refused to be back down and pressed forward with some body shots and combinations of his own. Uushona had Mayisela in trouble when he landed some heavy blows in round six and seven, but the tough South African managed to fight his way out of trouble. In the final rounds both boxers were tired, but they both slugged it out in the final round, much to the delight of the fans who cheered on excitedly. With the victory Uushona maintained his unbeaten record after 19 fights as a professional boxer, while it was Mayisela’s seventh defeat in 26 pro fights.Namibia’s national bantamweight champion Paulus Ambunda became the new WBO African Interim Bantamweight champion when he beat South Africa’s Lwazi Mzolozi on a second round technical knockout.The hard-hitting Ambunda was all over Mzolozi from the start and knocked him down twice in the first round, while he also went down once after slipping. The South African managed to get up but it was all over after two minutes in the second round when Ambunda knocked him down and the referee stopped the contest. It was Ambunda’s ninth consecutive victory as a pro fighter, while it was Mzolozi’s second defeat in 10 pro fights. In a major upset, Sacky Shikukutu suffered his first defeat as a pro boxer when he was knocked out by South Africa’s Norman Tshisakwawe in the first round of their welterweight fight. Both boxers came out firing on all cylinders and looking for a quick knockout. Shikukutu managed to land a few blows, but exposed himself on the ropes and Tshisakwawe put him down with a right hook. Shikukutu managed to get up but he was quite groggy and the referee counted him out on his feet. It was Tshisakwawe’s 10th victory in 16 pro fights. In other fights, Samuel Kaapapu beat Elia Shikuzu on points over six rounds; Julius Indongo beat Daniel Hosea on a second round TKO, and Immanuel Naidjala won his pro debut fight when he knocked out Daniel Ausiku in the third round.namibiasport.com.na