Boxer Thabiso loses at Olympics, ref blamed

MBABANE – No revenge! Despite being presented with a chance to make amends for the March defeat to Cameroon and Africa’s number one ranked welterweight 63- 69 kilogrammes boxer Albert Ayisi Mengue, Eswatini’s hope Thabiso Dlamini crashed out of the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games which were postponed to this year due to COVID- 19.

Dlamini had lost to the same fighter i n t he Olympic Qualif i e r s hel d i n Dakar back in March, where Mengue won 2- 1 after a split decision. This means the judges were divided on who should have won on the day. Dlamini faced off with the boxer again yesterday as early as 6: 30am local time. It took three rounds for him to lose after a fierce contest in the first two rounds but in the third, succumbed to some hard punches. Seeing the impact of the punches he was taking, the referee stopped the contest, meaning a ‘ Referee stops contest’ win for Mengue.

It was a promising start though by t h e l o c a l b o x e r who c o n t i n u e s t o gain more international experience. Judging his bout yesterday was United States of America ( USA) referee Andrew Mustacchio. He had no choice but to stop the contest as the Eswatini boxer was struggling to contain his opponent. He was get t i ng weaker with the stinging punches thrown by t he ri val and at t he t i me t he match was stopped, about 25 seconds was remaining on the clock. Dlamini lasted t wo minutes 35 seconds with each round lasting 60 seconds. The final score was 3- 0 in favour of Mengue.

STOPPED THE CONTEST

In the first round and second round, t he Cameroonian won 10- 9 before the referee stopped the contest ( RSC) on round three. This means Dlamini crashed out in the preliminary round of 32 and could not progress to the last 16 of the Welterweight 63- 69kg division and is expected out of Japan in four days. Mengue is ranked first in Africa and third in the world under the 69kg category while Thabiso is ranked 7th in Africa and 20th in the world.

Reached for comment after the bout, Dlamini, a gold medallist in the 2010 Zone Six Games hosted by Eswatini, said he was not happy with the referee’s decision.

“I was not happy with the referee’s decision because I believe I could have gone all the way to win round three.

Even my opponent commended me for a good fight. Congratulations are in order for the opponent. I would say I learnt a lot from this fight and the experience will go a long way in my boxing career,” he said. Meanwhile, his coach Fanana Dlamini also shared similar sentiments.

“I did not see t he punches which necessitated for t he referee t o stop t he contest. I believe Thabiso was going to come back and win the fight. However, there is nothing we can do about that, such things happen,” the coach said.

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