WHILE Hungarian fighter Attila Kovacs went into the ring against Bongani Mwelase to claim glory, "Cyclones", as Mwelase is known, went in without a mission.

WHILE Hungarian fighter Attila Kovacs went into the ring against Bongani Mwelase to claim glory, "Cyclones", as Mwelase is known, went in without a mission.

The fight took place at Mangaung Indoor Sports Centre in Bloemfontein last Friday night.

What happened was that the winner lost the fight as Mwelase was declared points winner for the vacant WBF junior middleweight belt.

Mwelase could have borrowed from the example of Leo "Ali" Simelane and Ditau "Diarora" Molefyane. One could see when they fought that they had nothing to lose but that they had come to entertain boxing fans.

Mwelase, who has mastered the art of talking trash about his opponent, failed to walk the talk.

He failed to impress, inspire and justify his "champion" status.

Mwelase, an enormously talented fighter, made fistic headlines in 2007 when he took veteran campaigner Lucky Lewele to the trenches for both the SA and WBC International welterweight belts.

That fight, which was voted fight of 2007, was the local blowout of the century. In that bloody slugfest at Wembley Arena, south of Johannesburg, Mwelase showed that he was a future giant-killer.

That was the 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medallist's only 12 rounder and only his 10th professional fight.

Defeating "Babawazo" Lewele, a veteran of more than 30 fights, turned Mwelase into an automatic hit with fight fans and media.

But against Kovacs, who is nicknamed "Viper", Mwelase looked like he had lost power while battling the scales. He failed to convince fight fans that he is a worthy boxer.

The three judges, who scored the fight in favour of Mwelase, may have been blinded by the two knockdowns.

Mwelase won the WBF welterweight strap in October but lost it on the scale the next month because he could not make the weight limit.

He remains undefeated after 14 fights with 12 knockouts.