Sekotswe outpunches Zimbabwe’s Mwadziwana in headline fight

Botswana’s Lesley Sekotswe did his hopes of fighting for continental and world Bantam Weight Boxing titles no harm this past Thursday as he claimed the scalp of Zimbabwe’s Tinashe Mwadziwana to register the 11th win of his professional career. The win added to an already impressive resume for the local boxer, whose 8 of 11 professional career wins came through Technical Knockouts, with only two draws. Despite his last bout having been fought almost a year ago, when he drew against Namibia’s then Immanuel Naidjala, Sekotswe showed no signs of rustiness as he took the fight to Mwadziwana from the first round.
Fighting in front of the patriotic home crowd at the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) hall, Sekotswe got off to a flying start, convincingly winning the first two rounds of their six rounds’ bout.
After a conservative opening minute, the local lad turned the heat on Mwadziwana, peppering him with jabs. Showing his experience, Sekotswe managed to keep his Zimbabwean opponent at bay, picking him at will with constant jabs and setting him up for follow up combinations which Mwadziwana found hard to counter. Coming into the second round, Mwadziwana showed more aggression but Sekotswe continued where he left off as he jabbed at his opponent.
Despite being under pressure, Mwadziwana held his ground and showed no sign of slowing down as he continued being on the front foot.
Things were however different from the third round onwards as Sekotswe ditched his style of the past two rounds, opting to take on the Zimbabwean in pursuit of what would be an elusive knockout.
The change of style by Sekotswe brought Mwadziwana back into the fight and the two exchanged blows, much to the despair of the vocal local crowd.
Unlike in the first two rounds, Mwadziwana now showed more resilience and his confidence grew in the third and fourth rounds as he closed on in what may at one point seemed an unassailable point’s lead by Sekotswe.
There was nothing to separate the two boxers in the fifth round as they continued trading punches.
While Sekotswe started the round strongly, he seemed to lose steam as the round went on, before picking up again to finish strongly.
Perhaps having sensed that he was trailing Sekotswe, Mwadziwana started the sixth and last round strongly as he sought to close the lead or even to end the fight. Sekotswe however held his ground, went back to the basics and out punched Mwadziwana to ensure he won the fight with a 60-55, 60-56 and 58-56 unanimous decision.
Quizzed about his change of style that nearly ruined him in his post fight interview, Sekotswe said he had deliberately decided to switch tactics from the third round forward as he prepared himself to fight different boxers.
With this in mind, the local boxer said he wanted to see how he could perform with a change of style, while also seeking to find a knockout punch to end the fight.
In another bout of the night, Kgomotso Bok made short work of his compatriot, Letsibogo Basenyapelo, taking only a minute and 25 seconds to end their fight. Having seen their boxer knocked on the deck twice in a short space of time in the first round of the bout, Basenyapelo’s corner threw in the towel to end his misery at the hands of Bok. in other bouts, former national team captain, Mmoloki Nogeng lost to Tebogo Kagiso by a unanimous 37-38, 37-38 and 36-39 decision, Thapelo Molatlhe beat Onkabetse Mookodi by a unanimous 48-38, 47-39 and 47-30 decision, Thato Monabana beat Dimpho Ramokoya by a 2-1 split decision while another former national team boxer, Gomotsang Gaasite took the scalp of Modiri Sanyati with a 40-35, 40 -35 and 40-35 unanimous decision.