Two intriguing women’s boxing contests will headline an eagerly anticipated showdown on 15 December in Bloemfontein. The mega-event is organised by local promoter Lebogang Mahoko of the Dream Team Gym, and will be held at the Bloemfontein City Hall.
Of the two women’s contests, one will be a championship contest, in which the Free State’s golden boxing queen Matshediso Mokatsane (née Mokebisi) will be making her fifth defence of the junior featherweight crown against Nomusa Ngema from KwaZulu-Natal.
They will be trading leather over ten rounds with the challenger attempting to dethrone Mokatsane who, with a successful defence, will keep the belt permanently on her cabinet.
The Free State’s most highly rated woman boxer has remained unchallenged, having made four successful defences since winning the crown. Mahoko believes the contest will be a hallmark for Mokatsane, who is a top-seeded fighter in this division in South Africa.
She has prestigious crowns in her cabinet, of which include the African Boxing Union and World Boxing Federation (WBF) junior featherweight title.
The other women’s event is the bantamweight bout in which Nozi Dube will square off with Pamela Mutanga over six rounds. Their event is supporting the main women’s title bout.
Mahoko has mentioned the reason for opting for the women’s bout as the headline to this showdown.
“This ties in with the annual government awareness campaign for 16 days of no violence against women and children. The boxing initiative is good because I believe it has more rhetoric action.
“We came up with boxing against gender-based violence (GBV) to raise more awareness and attempt to fight the scourge of GBV.
“Boxing is a good therapy for perpetrators to change their focus, to punch a bag rather than women if frustrated. We also strive to inspire the victims to take up boxing as a form of self-defence against the perpetrators of the crime,” said Mahoko.
The other bouts will feature male competitiors, with a selective number of novice fighters returning to action to continue improving their records in the professional rank.
They include Bloemfontein newcomer Tiaan Wessenaar (22), who hopes to retain his winning reputation after debuting in the professional rank with an impressive win, knocking out his contender in August this year. He saw off Tumelo Finger in the lightweight division bout.
Wessenaar will be taking on an equally talented Tshepang Tsesebe from Kimberley. They will battle it out over four rounds.
Mahoko, has teamed up with the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation to stage the tournament.
