By Lwazi Ndzobongo Tsiko Mulovhedzi retained his South African welterweight title via fifth round tko against Kyle Smith on Sunday afternoon at The Nasrec Expo Centre, south of Johannesburg. The referee stopped the fight at 2 minutes and 13 seconds into the 5th after Mulovhedzi had knocked down Smith twice in the round already. Mulovhedzi was making the 1st defence of his title.
Smith started the 1st round well, knocking down Mulovhedzi with a right hand. This seemed to wake up Mulovhedzi, as from the 2nd round onward, he made a permanent place for his straight right on Smith’s face and was landing it at will, troubling Smith throughout. It was no surprise that the same punch knocked down Smith in the fifth, however after getting up, Mulovhedzi was all over him with a barrage of punches that sent him to the canvass again, for another eight count. When the action resumed, Smith was out on his feet and wasn’t replying to Mulovhedzi’s punches, the referee stepped in and stopped proceedings.
A good win for Mulovhedzi.
Malcolm Klassen beat Cassius Baloyi over 8 rounds in a non-title lightweight fight. Klassen toyed and bullied the aging Baloyi for all eight one sided rounds. The judges scored the fight 80-72, 79-73 and 77-75, don’t know what fight the 3rd judge was watching.
Baloyi looked the 38 years of age he is, he lacked timing and any pop in his punches, he has now lost 5 of his last six fights. It was through teary eyes that this writer watched the former six time world champion in three divisions being outclassed and easily beaten by Klassen. This was a rematch to their 2009 fight, which Klassen won via 7th round TKO, the only man to stop Baloyi in his 45 fight boxing career.
Baloyi has been the face of South African boxing for the last 15 years, putting the country on the world map with his skills and wins over some of the world’s best.
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