What a fight as Energy marches on

Phillipus “Energy” Nghitumbwa defended his WBO Africa super bantamweight title in style with a terrific performance against Dekang Wang of China in the early hours of yesterday morning. 

In an action-packed fight over 12 rounds both boxers gave it their all, going toe-to-toe, as they slugged it out to the delight of the crowd at the Ramatex Hall.

Nghitumbwa came out firing from the start, taking the fight to Wang, but the Chinese fought back strongly on the counterattack. 

By the third round Nighitumbwa caught Wang in the corner and unleashed a barrage of blows, but Wang survived the onslaught and by the fifth round both boxers had the crowd cheering for more as they slugged it out in the centre of the ring. 

Nghitumbwa continued to push the tempo, raking in the points with a snappy jab, and by the seventh round, Wang had a visible welt under his right eye. 

Wang, however, gave as good as he got, catching Nghitumbwa with some good shots on the counterattack, but the Namibian continued to push the tempo, while another slug fest in the eighth round nearly brought the house down. 

Nghitumbwa once again trapped Wang in his corner in the 10th round, laying in with some quick combinations, but the tough Chinese fought back bravely and by the 12th round both boxers once again went toe-to-toe, to the delight of the fans.

It was a tremendous fight with world-class performances by both, but in the end Nghitumbwa was a deserved winner, with all three judges scoring the fight 116-112 in his favour. 

It takes his pro record to14 wins and two defeats, while it was Wang’s first defeat in 10 fights. Nghitumbwa, who was ranked 12th in the world by the WBO, will now most probably break into the top 10 and according to his trainer Nestor Tobias, “Energy” is another world champion in the making. 

“Tonight was another historical fight for Namibia – if you look back, we had some great champions, but this fight can stand out on its own. In Namibia we’ve got a lot of boxers like Energy, we just need support.

“Boxing is about championships, it’s about ratings, so we will talk to the WBO to get this kid a better rating so that he can get closer to fight for the world title, because he’s ready, he’s the best fighter in the world right now,” he said.

In the main supporting bout Jon Jon Ndjolonimus beat Clever Sithole of Zimbabwe on a sixth round technical knockout in a super middleweight fight.

Ndjolinimus put Sithole down for the count of eight in the first round

with an innocuous looking jab, but the Zimbabwean recovered, taking the fight to Ndjolonimus, as they both landed some big blows in the second round. 

The tempo dropped a bit after that, but Ndjolonimus continued to find the mark with some big blows and by the sixth round he once again sent Sithole to the canvas with a hook to the head. Sithole beat the count but the referee stopped the fight after two minutes and 49 seconds. Ndjolonimus is now undefeated after 18 fights and with a WBO world ranking of sixth, he too, could be in line for a world title shot soon. 

Jeremiah Nakathila got a good workout from Evans Husayihwevhu of Zimbabwe in an international lightweight fight, with the Zimbabwean taking him the full 10 rounds. 

Nakathila was always in control, displaying some great hand speed at times, but he could not put the nuggety Zimbabwean down and eventually won by a unanimous decision, with the judges scoring it 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91 in his favour.

In a featherweight fight, Matheus Heita notched up his 12th consecutive win with a fourth round TKO over John Shitilitha; Emmanuel Mungandjela beat Tranos Zihove on a second round TKO; and Nestor Thomas won the Namibian bantamweight title and notched up his 10th consecutive victory with a unanimous points decision against Paulus Shonena.

There were several other fights on the undercard as well as two exhibition fights, with Elina Shikongto beating Lakeisha van Wyk on points in a women’s fight over four rounds, while Pieter Cotze and Fillipus Shikongo drew a light heavyweight fight over four rounds.