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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
YOUNG female boxing star, Monica Mkandla is continuing her impressive run in the ring across the Limpopo River after she registered her fourth career win last Thursday at “ESPN Africa Boxing 22” tournament to keep a clean record.
The 22-year old Gwanda-born Mkandla, who is now based in South Africa beat Sazisiwe Simon in a four-round international junior middleweight bout in Johannesburg. The young boxer who goes by the moniker “Savage” won the match by unanimous decision (40-36, 40-37, 40-36).
Mkandla (4-0-0) produced a master class performance as she dominated the bout from the start to finish, all four rounds to take home the victory. Mkandla set the trend in the opening seconds of the first round with a devastating straight right that saw Simon stumbling around the ring. The Zimbabwean kept up the pressure after that and comfortably won all four rounds to maintain her unbeaten record.
Her fight was the first match of the night before the main event which was between South Africa’s Sikho Nqothole (16-2-0) and Philippines’ Denmark Quibido (12-1-1). The South African was crowned the new WBO Global Junior Bantamweight champion via unanimous decision (120-106, 119-107, 120-106).
Mkandla, who only turned professional in early August after her win at the Charles Manyuchi Academy boxing tournament, landed more punches with weight than her opponent on the day. In her previous fight, Mkandla beat Sibongile Mabuya from South Africa in a four-round junior bantamweight bout at The Box Camp Booysens Boxing Gym by unanimous decision (37-40, 39-37, 40-36).
With the amount of work she puts in with her team, Mkandla is excited with keeping a clean record as she has been training hard.
“It feels good, because I train hard with my coach and the team. We put extra work at the gym so that I can fight easily,” said Mkandla.
The fight was her last one for the year and she will step into the ring again next year.
– brandon_malvin
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter