Namibian late-bloomer Onesmus Nekundi captured the vacant World Boxing Federation (WBF) International Lightweight title on Saturday, November 30.
In Luanda, Angola, he put on an impressive performance, defeating hard-punching Portuguese veteran Antonio Joao Bento.
The WBF All Africa Champion at Super Featherweight going in, Nekundi took charge from the first round and applied heavy pressure on Joao Bento, who found it hard to send much the other way.
Joao Bento tried in spurts, but Nekundi had little trouble dealing with his attacks and was simply the stronger and fresher man.
After six rounds of more or less one-way traffic, referee Elroy Marshall from South Africa had seen enough in round seven and mercifully stopped the fight. Time of stoppage: 1:20.
Onesmus Nekundi improved his record to 10-5-3 (2), while Joao Bento, who made his paid debut over twenty years ago in 1999 and has held various WBA, WBC and IBF regional belts, drops to 33-18-3 (21).
Nekundi is a much better fighter than his spotted statistics suggest, and he appears to have found his true form as he hopes to continue building on his momentum towards even bigger fights.
