Top Guns tournament a great success

An explosive night of boxing is what boxing fans witnessed at the Top Guns Boxing tournament, in Emperors Palace’s Centre Court, on Saturday.

Presented by ChesaNyama, Supersport and Emperors Palace, the action-packed tournament definitely satisfied all die-hard boxing fans, as promised.

Kick-starting the night were Mbulelo Zonke and Thabang Ramagole vying for the Junior Flyweight.

A bout that was meant to be eight rounds was rounded off in the fifth round when Nxazonke won through a Technical Knockout with one minute and 28 seconds into that round.

The IBO Welterweight World title was contested by South African Ali Funeka and Russian Roman Belaev.

Although both fighters analysed each other in the first round, it was already evident that Belaev knows how to tactfully duck punches from the much taller Funeka.

The crowd started cheering in the second round, as Funeka started landing more accurate punches to the face of his opponent.

From the beginning of the third round, Belaev launched what seemed like retaliation punches, it was unclear if it was due to the punches he suffered from previous rounds or if they were based on what his trainers advised him on between the rounds.

Both fighters resorted to working on the body as they couldn’t get each other on the face.

Fair play gave way until Belaev suffered a massive cut to the eye in the tenth round as a result of Funeka’s hard felt straight jab to the face.

The bout had to be paused for Belaev’s cut to be attended to and, upon his return Belaev went full force.

In the eleventh round the crowd started shouting “Jab that boy” to Funeka which also saw him (Funeka) land more punches to his opponents’ face.

Doctors advised that the fight be stopped, just before the beginning of the 12th round, due to the condition of Belaev’s eye.

The score count after the 11th round was 105-104 and 109-100 all in favour of Funeka.

Johnny Muller and Kevin Lerena’s bout was an interesting one to watch.

Vying for Cruiserweight the fighters kept the crowd entertained for the full ten rounds.

Throughout the entire bout the audience witnessed winks from Lerena to Muller after every round, boastful body gestures from both fighters and jabs, jabs and more jabs.

Muller’s technique was that of double left jabbing and cornering his opponent here and there.

The audience clapped hands at the end of each round which supports the fact that it was a good and well-fought bout.

Though both fighters are skilled and endured it all there had to be one winner at the end.

“This is a great fight, both these fighters are strong and skilled,”said a boxing fan, Michael Hlongwane.

The judges scored the fight 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93 all in favour of Muller.

The WBC International Light Heavyweight title was contested by Tommy Oosthuizen and Denis Grachev.

A bout that a lot of boxing fans looked forward to for a long time as Oosthuizen had been out of the battle field for close to a year.

Oosthuizen was ready for the fight and it was evident in the way he fought, had the upper hand from the get go.

It was no surprise when Grachev refused to go onto the last round (12th round).

Grachev’s surrender lead to Oosthuizen being crowned the new WBC International Light Heavyweight.

Full fightcard results:

• Junior Flyweight – eight rounds: Mbulelo Nxazonke vs Thabang. Nxazonke won with a TKO in one minute and 28 seconds in the fifth round.
• IBO Welterweight world title – 12 rounds: Ali Funeka vs Roman Belaev. Judges scored the fight 105-104; 105-104 and 109-100 after the 11th round in favour of Funeka.
• Cruiserweight – 10 rounds: Johnny Muller vs Kevin Lerena. The judges scored 98-92;97-93 and 97-93 in favour of Muller.
• WBC International Light Heavyweight – 12 rounds: Tommy Oosthuizen vs Denis Grachev. Bout won by Oosthuizen with a TKO in the 11th round.