Bongani Magasela

Bongani Magasela

Kenyan fighter David Kiilu should not have been paid his purse money after his first round knockout defeat by Ludumo Galada at the Mdantsane Indoor Centre.

In fact, this 35-year-old foreigner, who came here with an impressive fight record of 28 wins, eight losses and two draws, was lucky that Stan Christodoulou, pictured, is no longer in charge of boxing here.

This no-nonsense administrator would have withheld Kiilu's purse money last Friday because he did not deserve a cent.

Kiilu was pathetic. He went down from a body shot and it was over - bar the shouting - in two minutes and 28 seconds. He did not throw a single decent blow.

Galada, of Mdantsane, who lifted the World Boxing Foundation (WBF) featherweight vacant title, cannot punch his way out a paper bag.

He is just a stand-up boxer who works hard for his victories. Galada's knockout ratio of five from 15 wins reflects just that.

He must have been surprised to see Kiilu go down as if he had been shot.

Referee Lulama Mtya reached the count of 10 while Kiilu still lay on the canvas pretending to be hurt.

Excitement was provided by Thembelani Maphuma and Nkosana Sobethu, who proved that local will always be lekker.

These left-handers fought a clean fight and also gave their all. They displayed pure artistry throughout their closely contested 12 rounds.

There were no knockdowns. The first five rounds were a battle of jabs and Maphuma, the aggressor, came up tops.

Sobethu came back strongly towards the end and it was a case of too little, too late to impress the judges.

Maphuma was deservedly crowned the new SA junior bantamweight king.

Meanwhile, Mexican Fernando Beltran won the International Boxing Organisation featherweight belt with a split decision over Takalani Ndlovu yesterday.

Two judges' scorecards were 115-112 for Beltran while the third scored it 114-113 for Ndlovu.