Botswana’s pro boxers continued their impressive trajectory as they came out unscathed from the Fox Sports Africa boxing tournament which was held at the Royal Swazi Spa, Swaziland this past Friday.
In what was an impressive outing, Botswana recorded two wins and a draw from the three undercard bouts they fought.
Botswana’s wins came through Steven Bagwasi and Kutlwano Ogaketse, while Tshepang Babui managed a draw.
Bagwasi, whose stock has been on an unprecedented rise since joining the pro ranks, beat South Africa’s Anthony Moloisane by a split decision to continue his unbeaten record.
Referees in the contest scored the six round bout 57 ÔÇô 56, 56 ÔÇô 57 and 57 ÔÇô 56 in Bagwasi’s favour.
For the youngster, the win brings even closer the chance to challenge for the WBA Pan Africa Lightweight title held by South Africa’s rising star Ayanda Nkosi.
Bagwasi has been eyeing Nkosi’s title and has even made it known that he is confident he can dethrone the South African.
In the other contest involving a Botswana boxer, Ogaketse registered a unanimous points decision over another South African, Hloni Maboko.
Ogaketse won the six rounds bout with referees scoring the contest 59-54, 60-53 and 59-54 in his favour.
Babui on the other hand held off South Africa’s Vusumuzi Nyawuza to a credible draw in his four rounds bout as Botswana came out of the tournament without a lose.
Meanwhile, WBA Pan African featherweight title holder Rofhiwa Maemu TKO’d Tanzania’s Haidari Mchanjo to retain his belt.
Despite his boisterous proclamations ahead of the bout, Mchanjo proved no match for ‘War Child’ Maemu as the referee stopped the contest just 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the third round to protect him from Maemu.
On the other title bout, Bagwasi’s future opponent, Nkosi of South Africa, also retained his WBA Pan African Lightweight title after beating Michael Odhiambo of Kenya in just six rounds.
It was a highly impressive display from Nkosi who used his reach and strength to win the fight, consistently using his left-jab and right-straight to beat down the Kenyan fighter who offered very little in the way of attack.
The victory sees Nkosi defend his title with the eighth win of his career (W8 D0 L1) and he will now look to further climb the ranks of the international lightweight division.
Odhiambo didn’t answer the call to the sixth round due to a broken nose which saw his trainer throwing in the towel to hand the Kenyan the ninth loss of his career (W15 D0 L9).
