Whittlesea-born boxer Landile “Man Down” Ngxeke is the new champion of IBO Intercontinental junior bantamweight title after beating Filipino boxer Michael Mendoza during a 12-round unanimous points decision at the Orient Theatre in East London this past weekend.
Talented Ngxeke went to the fight desperate to revive his boxing career after he lost his last fight against another boxer from the Philippines, Jayr Raquinel in October last year and he wanted to forget that setback when he faced Mendoza.
The boxers fought all the way until the end of the 12th round, with Ngxeke (27) emerging as the new champion of the vacant IBO Intercontinental junior bantamweight.
In the fight all judges were in favour of Ngxeke and scored the fight 117-111 and 116-111 and also improved his record 10-1-1; 4.
Ngxeke used the ring well, kept his work rate at a premium and never allowed the Filipino boxer any room to unload as he skilfully accumulated points.
“That is exactly what we worked on. He boxed intelligently and it came together beautifully,” said Ngxeke.
“Our plan was always to keep the distance, not follow Mendoza around. We saw that in the middle rounds when he (Mendoza) got frustrated and tried to get me to lead.”
Ngxeke also applauded the Filipino boxer when he said that he came into the fight with a plan.
“We did not want to walk into a big one because we knew he could pull it back with one big shot. He boxed according to plan, stayed off the ropes and was wary of the counter,” said Ngxeke.
