Fists to fly at the Orient
Sinyabi and Mboyiya bout heads league extravaganza
EAST London is bracing for a boxing revolution which will see the inauguration of the vaunted Premier Boxing League (PBL) scheduled for Orient Theatre tomorrow.
The league was introduced in March and since then activities have been held such as its official launch amid media frenzy at a beachfront hotel.
Featuring three potentially explosive bouts as well as two female clashes, the inauguration has captivated the boxing fraternity and businesspeople alike.
PBL founder Dicksy Ngqula, who has been working tirelessly behind the scene to make sure that tomorrow’s event kicks off without a glitch, promised the fans a night to remember.
“We have talked about this and now it’s time to deliver it to the people,” said Ngqula.
There could be no better bout to kickstart the league than the featherweight clash between reigning SA champion Aphiwe Mboyiya and recently dethroned junior-featherweight king Macbute Sinyabi.
While the fight might be viewed as a mismatch as Sinyabi has an edge on every department bar youth than the young champion, the fact that the bout will be fought over six rounds has made it an even encounter.
Mboyiya is known for starting his bouts with aplomb only to fade towards the end.
In fact his mentor Mzi Mnguni argues that the youngster has never lost a round in the first six innings of all his eight fights without a defeat.
But Sinyabi, who is desperately looking to bounce back to winning ways after surrendering his crown to Mboyiya’s stablemate Thabo Sonjica in March, will still enter the ring as favourite.
The “Mac-Man” has since dumped longtime trainer Nick Durandt to link up with former world champion Welcome Ncita, who is one of the best tacticians in the game.
With only three losses in 23 bouts scoring an astonishing 18 knockouts, Sinyabi is expected to rely heavily on his power to turn the lights out on the young champion.
As if the Sinyabi-Mboyiya clash is not tantalising enough, another encounter will see former SA junior-flyweight champion Mfundo Gwayana moving up to the flyweight to take on unbeaten star Makazole Tete.
Gwayana, who is going an extra mile in preparation for the bout, could be condemned to the scrapheap if he loses to the novice prospect of only seven wins in as many bouts with six stoppages.
With a record of 24 outings , 16 wins, six losses and two draws, Gwayana is at the twilight of his career and is already considered a gatekeeper. Should he lose to Tete he will be relegated to the steppingstone status.
The last bout of the league will see Vusumzi Tyatyeka trying to get the third victory over Vusumzi Bokolo in their lightweight scrap.
Tyatyela already holds two stoppage victories over Bokolo and the perception is that the third clash will be no different even though Bokolo has improved significantly since joining Eyethu Boxing Club and benefited from quality sparring sessions with former world title contender Ali Funeka.
“Mavusi” as Bokololo is affectionately known, has reeled impressive knockout victories in his last four bouts including bagging the Eastern Cape crown.
Fight promoter Chris Pondo whose Masizakhe Promotions has been given the huge task of inaugurating the league has promised to present a worldclass boxing tournament that will linger on the minds of boxing fans for a while.
“Everything is on track and we just waiting to baptise this baby,” said Pondo.