Pretoria’s own Cowin Ray is South Africa’s new super-middleweight boxing champion.

Ray gave a brilliant boxing performance in his title fight with Frank Rodrigues at Emperors Palace on the East Rand on Saturday.

The fight ended halfway through the ninth round, when Rodriques’ coach, Alan Toweel, threw in the towel to indicates that his booker endured enough punishment.

Not much came of the predicted big fight between Ray and Rodrigues. The latter has a lot of experience and has systematically shifted down two weight divisions, having initially started his career as a cruiserweight.

Much has therefore been made of his power and ability to stop opponents. But on Saturday night, he faced an opponent in Cowin Ray who proved he was serious about his new chance in the ring, after personal problems plagued his career earlier.

It was Ray who knocked Rodrigues down with a powerful hit in the third round, after which the latter could only just beat the referee’s score of 8 seconds.

Ray’s coach, Sebastiaan Rothmann, said beforehand that his boxer is at a level these days that could make him a superstar. Ray proved this by fighting almost unbeatably clinical and dismantled Rodrigues round by round with an excellent scientific boxing performance, which included brilliant combinations and good alternation between body blows and hits in the facial area.

Although Rodrigues initially bravely tried to fight back, he ended up not being in the same class as Ray.

This victory from Ray will excite his fans and it may indicate that he is probably finally realizing his huge potential. He is probably now ready to fight against top overseas opponents.

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