Unheralded Zambian Simon Ngoma shattered Kaine Fourie’s unbeaten record with two right hands in the first round of their scheduled 10-rounder at the Galleria in Sandton on Saturday night.
Ngoma didn’t stick to the script in the main bout of Kevin Lerena’s debut venture in the promotional sphere, pouncing on the home favourite with clear intent.
Fourie, dubbed K9, got up after being decked from a right cross the first time, but he looked unsteady on his feet and when he went down at the end of another right hand, the back of his head landing against the bottom rope, referee Simon Mokadi ended it mercifully.
Fourie wasn’t going to beat a full count anyway.
But the result came as a major blow for Fourie, who was one of the hotter prospects in town. TimesLIVE had heard that Fourie had been pencilled in for the undercard of Lerena’s WBC bridgerweight title defence against Serhiy Radchenko of Ukraine at the Sunbet arena in Pretoria on May 1.
Fourie’s record dropped to nine wins, one loss and two draws while Ngoma’s improved to 9-2.
In all it was a successful debut for Lerena, the face of Aquila Boxing Promotions, which he says is a consortium, though his focus now shifts to his own upcoming fight.
In the main supporting bout Boyd Allen, the mixed-martial arts fighter, comfortably beat Denis Mwale on points over eight rounds, though it took a while for this contest to get going.
A couple of times in the fourth round they pressed their lead hands against each other’s, doing nothing else — for a while it seemed as if a tango was about to break out.
That might actually have given the crown more action than they provided with their fists in the first half of this bout, which was dominated by posturing, moving, clinching and the occasional one-off punches.
Allen is admittedly awkward, but a fitter and more determined boxer than Mwale might have been able to rip the MMA fighter from his low-paced comfort zone.
Boyd finally made the breakthrough in the fifth round, almost closing Mwale’s left eye, which sparked him into throwing more punches.
Former South Africa junior-lightweight champion Sibusiso Zingange got better the longer his six-rounder against Talent Baloyi continued and he won by unanimous decision.
Middleweight prospect Stephanus Pypers kept his unbeaten record intact with a first-round knockout over Thando Mali.
Pypers put him down with his third punch of the fight, a left hook to the chin, and then kept him down with a right later in the round. This is an exciting fighter, but his defence needs much work.
Former national champion Ayabonga Sonjica, returning to the ring after a hiatus of more than two-and-a-half years, looked good as he outpointed Thato Bonokoane over six rounds.
Sonjica last fought when losing his South Africa junior-featherweight title to Bongani Mahlangu by knockout in mid-2022, but his victory pushed his record to 11 wins and one loss.
In the first fight of the tournament, Luke Hendricks beat Prichard Dube by majority decision over four rounds.
In other fights, Bernice Ferreira beat Bukiwe Nonina on points over six rounds and, in a battle of unbeaten fighters, Kagiso Bagwasi stopped Almighty Moyo in the first round of their catchweight bout, dropping him with two southpaw lefts.
Bagwasi outweighed his opponent by more than 4kg, coming in as a middleweight while Moyo was in the welterweight limit.
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