Less talking and more action was Anga “Naakmusiq” Makubalo’s strategy that led him to claim victory against rival and hip-hop heavyweight Cassper Nyovest at Celeb City in Sun City in the North West on Saturday night. 

The actor and singer faced off in an action-packed five-round ring battle that many claim was the “fight of the year”. 

“I’m a strong-willed person. I decided to mute comments on my social media posts so that all the negativity doesn’t get to me,” the singer said of his headspace ahead of the match. 

“I needed to stay focused and not let all the noise get to me.

“When  Cassper started hugging me a lot I knew I had an advantage to win.” 

From the beginning of the first round it was clear that both stars would give it their all, serving nothing but tough blows. 

In his speech after accepting his championship belt, Naakmusiq claimed he had never boxed a day in his life but singled out his “focus” and “discipline” as the key aspects that helped him win.

“It was a tough fight … I didn’t think it would be easy and it wasn’t. I won’t lie, Cassper gave it to me. 

“I learnt a great deal of discipline from boxing and I don’t think I’ll stop now that I’ve started.

“This fight brought music and boxing together hence we are all here.”

The celebrity face-off also included several professional boxing matches – something Nyovest believes South Africans need to start paying attention to. 

After months of announcing he would “NaakHimOut”, the hip-hop heavyweight appeared less confident when he entered the ring. 

Nyovest said if he had won people would have thought the fight was rigged.

He won his first celebrity fight against YouTuber Slik Talk in December.

“This fight was very challenging. I truly underestimated Naak. He took a lot of big shots and carried on. He really came and brought it and I didn’t expect that from him,” Nyovest said.

Feeling that the judges were unfair in their decision of the title holder, Nyovest said he was up for a rematch . 

Not all things were doom and gloom for Nyovest fans, though, as they got to enjoy performances from popular musicians such as Blackie, Young Stunna, DJ Sumbody, Uncle Waffles, Kamo Mphela, Big Zulu, Zakes Bantwini, DJ Zinhle and many more.