Mdantsane female boxer Unathi Myekeni again failed to regain the WBF title when she lost to South Korean Hyun-Mi Choi at Jinju Gymnasium, Jinju at the weekend.
Myekeni, a former WBF junior featherweight champion – a title she lost in the boardroom when she was stripped for inactivity – was silently whisked away to South Korea to fight for the vacant WBF junior lightweight title.
This even though she had lost her last bout when she was beaten on points by Gabisile Tshabalala last August.
However, when an opportunity to win the same title in the heavier division was presented to her she accepted even though she had never fought in the junior lightweight class before.
To make matters worse Myekeni has been concentrating on her job at the mines in Rustenburg and hardly had time to prepare for the fight.
However, she managed to go the full distance in losing a unanimous decision against the unbeaten Choi who came to the fight with one draw in 12 bouts.
l Meanwhile Thabiso “The Rock” Mchunu failed to shine in his return bout at Durban’s ICC Hall, KwaZulu-Natal when his opponent meekly surrendered without putting up a fight.
Mchunu was making a ring return following his disappointing 11th round stoppage by Ilunga “Junior” Makabu in their WBC cruiserweight title eliminator at the same venue in May last year.
Expected to brush aside Boniface Kabore of Burkina Faso, Mchunu threw a few clumsy punches in the second round after a quiet first round.
The 35-year-old visitor surprisingly fell but got up only to indicate to referee Francis Manning that he was no longer interested in the fight. That is how the farce of a fight – which topped Ludonga Boxing Promotions bill – ended.
Kabore turned out to be a domesticated snake. When the muscular Mchunu marched to the ring the Burkinabe looked a scared man, his eyes popping out like he’d seen a ghost.
It was Siboniso Gonya, who turned out to be a marvel to watch and he in fact saved the tournament.
Gonya was amazing in his third round stoppage of Gianpietro Marceddu from Italy.
Gonya, who suffered his lone loss in 10 bouts against Duncan Village boxer Thabo Siswane, showed his intentions from the first round. He rained in punches from all angles in round two and finished the business in style in round three, and a deafening noise of jubilation from the fans greeted the end. Gonya was ushered to war by trainer Zwilenkosi Magudulela.