Zimbabwean boxer wins again in South Africa

Brandon Moyo

SOUTH Africa-based, young Zimbabwean boxer, Beaven Sibanda continued his good exploits in the ring after recording his fifth career victory on Saturday evening at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.

Sibanda beat South Africa’s Sandile Wessels by a technical knockout (tko) in round three of their junior flyweight four-round bout. His match was one of the undercards for the night’s biggest match pitting Kevin Lerena and Ryad Merhy.

Going under the moniker “The One”, the Harare-born boxer dropped his opponent once in the first round and twice in the second before the South African chickened out and refused to come back for the third round. The fight was Sibanda’s first of the year.

“The victory was so good, it motivated me to keep working hard if I want results. It was good to be back (in the ring), I felt calm and confident and enjoyed the fight. I was sharp and calculating in the fight, when he made a mistake, I took advantage,” said Sibanda.

Saturday’s victory came after the youngster ended 2022 on a high note when he won his fourth career match, beating another South African, Sabelo Nkosi by unanimous decision in their six-round straw weight bout. Sibanda landed more punches with weight than his opponent on the night to take home the victory.

In his third professional fight, Sibanda beat yet another South African, Mfanuvele Ntuli in their international catch-weight bout at the Lights Out tournament. He won the four-round bout via a split decision after two of the judges gave him their nod.

At the end of last year, Sibanda promised that he will be blazing more, as he has yet another level that he wants to reach and his goal is to beat everyone they put in front of him. His schedule for this year is yet to be advised by his management.

In the biggest match of the night, South Africa’s Lerena boxed his way to a 12-round unanimous points decision (118-110, 116-112 and 115-113) over Côte D’Ivoire-born Belgian boxer Merhy to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) bridgerweight silver title and the eliminator for the WBC bridgerweight world title.

Lerena has now earned the right to challenge the current WBC bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski from Poland.

– @brandon_malvin.