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Undefeated World Boxing
Federation welterweight
champion, Noni Tenge saw off a
determined effort from
Cameroonian Francisca Mbang in
clearly her toughest fight in
her career.
The only blemish on Tenge's
record had been a draw against
the very Mbang in her second
fight, and she has been waiting
for two years to put the record
straight.
However, any thoughts of an easy
night's work were put to bed as
early as the second round when
the six foot Mbang with a huge
reach advantage caught Noni with
an excellent left hook to the
head, hurting the champion
momentarily.
The fight turned into a tactical
battle, with Tenge trying to get
in on the inside to neutralize
the long reach of Mbang, while
Mbang using her long reach to
good advantage. It was an
excellent fight, with lots of
leather being thrown by both
combatants and with the crowd on
its feet for the entire ten
rounds.
The fight made a mockery of the
inaccurate record on Boxrec,
through no fault of their own
(many fights in Africa and the
results thereof don't make it to
Boxrec), having Mbang down as
three fights with one loss and
two draws. Many thanks to Boxing
SA who kindly forwarded a
certified letter correcting
Mbang's record to reflect an
accurate five wins one loss and
two draws.
This fight showed how tough
Mbang is and certainly there is
a future in the game for this
young Cameroonian fighter.
Tenge, in many people's eyes the
best woman welterweight in the
world, showed class, toughness,
durability and for the first
time showed she can take a
punch, in moving her record to
10 - 0 with a draw and with
eight knockouts. Both South
African WBF champions, Tenge and
junior featherweight Unathi
Myekeni will be in action again
on 12 December such is the
demand from the public to see
these girls defending their
titles.
Special mention must be made of
promoter Fezile Mabuya who
staged the event in Welkom, 140
miles outside Bloemfontein, and
for his professionalism
throughout his dealings with the
WBF.
The officials were:
Supervisor: Archie Jonas
Referee: Siya Vabaza
Judges: Peter Isaacs 99 - 91,
Freddie Makatini 99 - 91 and
Aubrey Erasmus 98 - 92. |
