'Smash' Hadebe gives women's boxing tournament a thrilling finale

Simangele "Smash" Hadebe delivered a classy performance in Sandton on Thursday night, putting a solid exclamation mark on ESPN Africa’s almost all-women tournament. 

The sisters did it for themselves, from most of the officiating to the bulk of the bludgeoning — and if one thing was clear, it was that the ladies are improving their skill sets and earning their spot on boxing’s centre stage.

Hadebe, defending her African Boxing Union flyweight title, was too slick for challenger Stumai Maki. She boxed well from behind her jab, bobbing and weaving under her opponent’s shots and pounding away at head and body.

Over-matched Maki quit on her stool at the start of the fourth round, suffering from what seemed to be a dislocated shoulder, but she was never really in this contest. 

Hadebe improved to 12 wins, three losses and two draws, while Muki, dropping to 6-2, continued the miserable run of Tanzanians in this series. 

The tournament was, by all accounts, a far more apt celebration of Women’s Month than Boxing SA’s Women In Boxing indaba in Durban this week, where basically women from the eight provinces outside of KwaZulu-Natal were not invited.

In the co-main event, popular Malawian Ellen Simwaka needed a split decision to keep her IBF Africa bantamweight title from Zambian challenger Lina Kasweka, raw but determined.

The two tore into each other from the opening bell and they didn’t let up, engaging in a high-octane slugfest that somehow went the scheduled 10 rounds. It might have been bloodless but it was savage and brutal. The challenger soaked up serious punishment to the body but kept going forward and continued landing blows to the chin of Simwaka. 

The champion’s record improved to 11-5-2. Her work rate and better accuracy probably clinched it for her, but if Kasweka, suffering her first defeat in eight contests, were to polish her skills she could be a force to be reckoned with. 

Some of the action showed that there was still a skills deficit, but at a ratio of almost 15 male boxers to one woman in SA, what would one expect? 

At least women’s boxing is on the rise. 

The men were given the two undercard bouts. 

Katlego Khanyisa and Sipho Mahlangu delivered a barn-storming crowd-pleaser over eight rounds. Khanyisa, trained by Colin Nathan and Shannon Strydom, won a split decision over Mahlangu, who is coached by Strydom’s father, Gert. 

Featherweight Ishmael Kadri improved his record to 3-0 when he beat Luvo Xhomfo by majority decision, showing plenty of promise for the future.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.