IBF flyweight champ Moruti Mthalane wants his ‘Egglish’ foe Sunny side down
IBF flyweight champ vows to return with his title intact
● Age will surely stop Moruti Mthalane from challenging the marks of Vuyani Bungu and Brian Mitchell, but the IBF flyweight champion does have one key advantage over his two illustrious countrymen.
Mthalane carries more power in his fistic arsenal than the two legends, which could be key when he makes the eighth career defence of his crown against Englishman Sunny Edwards in London on Friday.
Bungu, the IBF junior-featherweight titleholder from 1994-99, holds the SA record for most world title defences on 13, but had a knockout ratio of 49% in his 39 victories.
Mitchell, who made 12 defences of his
WBA junior-lightweight title from 1986-91 before adding the IBF strap to his waist, had a 46% stoppage ratio from 45 wins.
Mthalane, No 3 on the local list of most successful defences with seven so far, has stopped 26 of his 39 foes for a two-thirds ratio.
That’s fractionally higher than other SA ring greats from even higher weight classes, like Dingaan Thobela’s 26 from 40 (65%) and heavyweight Gerrie Coetzee’s 21 from 33 (64%).
Mthalane can whack. And the word from the veteran’s training camp in Tunisia this week was that he was looking “monstrous” in training.
Edwards, with an unblemished record of 15-0 and a 27% KO ratio, could be in for a torrid time if — or probably when — Mthalane starts finding his range and landing his bombs.
There could be a joke or two about whether the South African would enjoy his “Egglish” opponent Sunny side down.
At 25, Edwards is 13 years younger than 38-year-old Mthalane, but the Johannesburg-based
fighter believes his age gives him an advantage against the youngsters.
“All my opponents said ‘this one is old now, I’m going to hit him, I’m going to knock him out’. Then when they come in the ring it’s another story, it doesn’t happen the way they think.
“That’s why I always keep quiet. I know they’ll think ‘this one is finished, he’s old’, then I’ll show them in the ring.
“I think it’s the same thing that’s going to happen in this fight, I’m sure he’s thinking ‘ah, this one is old, he’s been doing this a long time now, he’s finished, it’s my time now’, but it’s not going to go like he thinks.”
Mthalane reckons the only young gun capable of beating him now would be the 2009 version of himself that first won the title.
“I will think 2009 will win because now I’m 38 years, I’m no longer young. I think only the experience will give me the advantage to win against the 2009 me.”
Mthalane said he rated Edwards, the younger brother of former WBC flyweight champion Charlie, but not enough to lose any sleep.
“I know he’s good, but I’m ready for him, I’m ready to defend my title. I don’t care whether he’s good what what what, I’m going there to defend my title because that’s my title. I can’t just let it go away.”
Mthalane knows the value of that belt. His reign was interrupted for a few years after he was stripped of the belt in 2014 when he refused a challenge because of the paltry purse. He regained it in 2018.
His two reigns total seven years, which makes Mthalane SA’s longest-serving world champion, and if he’d not lost four years in between, he could have equalled or bettered Bungu’s 13 defences.
But Mthalane doesn’t linger on past regrets, always looking to the future, and right now dealing with Edwards is his sole focus.
Mthalane and his team are set to fly to London on Tuesday.
I’m going there to defend my title ... I don’t care whether he’s good