Only two of the five fights at Sunday’s Battle of the Warriors 5 boxing tournament at the Sun Arena in Menlyn were determined by points results.

This fact is evidence of the excitement and action that prevailed during the tournament. Although none of the other three fights were determined through a clinical knockout, there were three technical knockouts, all achieved in different ways.

The main fight of the day, which were beforehand described as a historical event due to the fact that two South Africans fought against each other for both the national title and the WBA Pan African Middleweight Title, probably yielded the biggest surprise of the tournament.

The 39-year-old defending champion Walter Dlamini was the favourite to win the fight, but he was convincingly beaten by Nkululeko Mhlongo with a technical knock-out in the fourth round.

Although Dlamini had a very good first round, his opponent from Kwazulu-Natal started to dominate matters in the second round.

By the end of the third round Dlamini was out on his feet after Mhlongo hit him with good combinations, but he was saved by the bell.

However, the referee had to end the fight early in the fourth round when Dlamini was clearly no longer able to defend himself against Mhlongo’s blows.

This defeat not only stripped Dlamini of his titles, but probably also shattered his dream of getting a chance to fight for a world title before retiring.

– Namibia’s Willbeforce Shihepo could only stand two rounds against South African cruiserweight champion Thabiso Mcunu.

Shihepo, who is not rated among the top 100 in the boxing world in this weight division, suffered a lot of punishment in the first two rounds of their fight, before he gave up and did not want to get out of his corner for the third round.

– In the only women’s bout on the fight card, Smangele “Smash” Hadebe also forced her opponent, Temba Zuma, to surrender in the fourth round. Hadebe dedicated her victory to the murdered women’s boxer, Baby Lee Jegels.

The first two fights produced points results. Anthony Grobler easily beat Ramsy Hlungwane in their super flyweight fight, while Shevontaigh Koopman won his battle with Wandile Ndlela in a junior middleweight fight.

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