Sibulela Soboois, hailed by many as the star of female boxing, lived up to expectations when she effortlessly dethroned Smangele “Smash” Hadebe as the WBO Africa flyweight champ over eight rounds on Saturday evening.
Nicknamed “Lova”, the left hander from Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, is a former multiple SA amateur champion whose skills are being honed by Xolani Kemka.
Soboois was named Best Junior female boxer at the 2018 SANABO National Championships.
Her eight rounder with Hadebe — who did not have many fights in the amateur ranks — headlined the seven bout card of the Fighters Club promotion at Silverlakes Farm Hotel in Pretoria.
The event was promoted by Terry Anne Hart and was her second at the same venue where she made her debut as a a promoter in November.
Both tournaments, televised live by SABC, were dominated by female bouts.
The boxers reciprocated with spirited performances — much to the delight of big crowds, which got involved emotionally with cheers, singing and dancing.
Soboois remained undefeated after five fights while Hadebe suffered her fifth defeat in 22 matches.
The newly crowned champion had it all — awkwardness from a left hander, timing, well calculated punch placement, crisp punches and confidence.
You could swear she’s been around for many years.
She began round one as the aggressor, pushing Hadebe backwards, tucking in her chin to protect herself from the champion’s usually durable counters.
Soboois displayed her toughness in rounds two and three, standing up to Hadebe’s punches and trading with her again, this time landing telling straight punches.
Hadebe seemed unable to cope or figure out a plan to counter a left hander.
As a right hander, she should have moved to Soboois’ left to stay away from her foe’s left cross, and use her right hand for straight punches, uppercuts and body shots.
The former ABU holder should have also avoided moving towards Soboois’ left hand, which made her vulnerable to her strongest counter.
The crowd was screaming with excitement towards the end of what had been a cleanly fought fight.
It was clear that a new WBO Africa flyweight ruler was to be crowned.
Shockingly, one judge scored the fight in favour of Hadebe when Soboois looked to have won all the rounds.
Brutal fight
Earlier on, Jarred “Mr Hollywood” Silverman came back from the brink of defeat to force a fifth-round stoppage against his tough-as-nails opponent Simphiwe “Mphathi Wemali” Ntombela.
It was a brutal fight with both fighters caring little about defence.
Their fight had been on the cards since last year, and they went hammer and tongs at each from the start.
Ntombela missed a golden opportunity to end it all when he had Silverman trapped against the ropes.
Silverman seized that opportunity and hit Ntombela from pillar to post, forcing referee Simon Mokadi to stop the brutality in one minute and 59 seconds into round five.
In other bouts, Sibusiso Zingange defeated Malawian Hannock Phiri via a unanimous decision over 10 rounds.
Tyla Promnick retained her unblemished slate of five wins after defeating Yonelisa Poi]ni on points over six rounds while Libra Mtarwini defeated Lee Ann van Vuuren on points also over six rounds.
Meanwhile in Durban, a KwaZulu-Natal featherweight champion was crowned when Sthembiso Maduna from Steadville, outpointed Tholumusa Ngema from Esikhawini over 10 rounds.
Their bout headlined a development tournament staged by promoter Sandile Vilakazi of Syathaba Boxing Promotions at the Portuguese Hall.
Maduna is from the same region as the legendary Thulani “Sugar Boy” Malinga who was the last boxer from SA to win a WBC belt.
Malinga defeated Nigel Benn on points for the super middleweight title in England in 1996.
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