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In one of
the best WBFed fights of the year, Roland Francis put in a magnificent
performance to win a split decision against the talented Congolese cruiserweight
Alex Mabaya. This win gave Francis the vacant WBFed All Africa cruiserweigth title. The hall at the Lwandle
township was filled to capacity as Francois 'The White Buffalo' showed that his
promotional skills were no different to his boxing skills staging one of the
most exciting tournaments held in South Africa this year.
Roland Francis continued
his comeback, dropping his much larger opponent in the second round, and keeping
the fight at short distance. This intelligently nullified Mabaya's long
reach throughout the contest. Both fighters went toe to toe for the full
ten rounds, with referee Eddie Marshall having an easy day at the office and
the capacity crowd on their feet throughout. Francis is certainly too
small for a cruiser and should and will be fighting at super middle in the
future, but showed great toughness and the ability to hit hard with both
hands.
A fight against WBFed world
supermiddle champ, William Gare is indeed appealing. Certainly as well, a
bright future for Mabaya, who drops to 11 - 3 with 9 KOs. The Congolese
showed excellent hand speed as well as a big right hand, although in this case,
it was well handled by Francis. The judges scores were 96 - 93, 96 - 93
and 94 - 95. It was also very rewarding to have the CEO of Boxing South
Africa, Loyiso Mtya in attendance, who spoke very highly of the contribution of
Francois Botha as well as the WBFed, for bringing boxing back to the African
townships.
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