WORLD BEAT
Fighter of the Year – Phumelele Cafu The man of the year should undoubtedly be Phumelele Cafu, who upset Kosei Tanaka in Japan to take the WBO 115-pound belt. From the start, it was evident that Tanaka was the stronger of the two, but Cafu had the edge in speed and defense. Cafu had his best moment in the fifth. He timed Tanaka perfectly coming in, sending the Japanese fighter to the canvas with a short right. Tanaka got up on unsteady legs and survived. He clawed himself back into the fight by the seventh, ripping shots to the body and head of a suddenly wobbling Cafu. Tanaka looked on the verge of turning it around. Cafu, however, displayed remarkable grit. He planted his feet in the eighth and went to war. Blistering exchanges ensued all the way to the end, Cafu perhaps having the edge on volume and accuracy, while Tanaka had the heavier artillery. The razor-thin split decision went Cafu’s way by two scores of 114-113, with a dissenting card to Tanaka by the same margin. South Africa has a new world champion! Two other fighters deserve an honorable mention: Former IBF junior flyweight titleholder Sivenathi Nontshinga hit both a high and a low. He avenged a knockout defeat and regained his title by stopping Adrian Curiel in the 10th round of a war. Nontshinga did it in come-from-behind fashion, in Mexico, to become a two-time world titleholder. Sadly, it was not to last. He dropped his belt to former WBC titlist Masamichi Yabuki, who stopped him in nine rounds in Japan. Junior bantamweight Ricardo Malajika enjoyed a breakout year. First, he scored a shutout 12-round decision over British and Commonwealth champion Marcel Braithwaite. Malajika boxed masterfully behind his jab, completely negating everything Braithwaite attempted. He capped that off by knocking out
Yanga Sigqibo in the 11th round. Sigqibo had previously gone the 10-round distance with four-weight world champion Kosei Tanaka. Fight of the Year – Shervantaigh Koopman TKO 5 Brandon Cook middleweights Shervantaigh Koopman and his Canadian opponent, former world title challenger Brandon Cook, delivered. The fight took place at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa, on October 26. Cook silenced the home crowd by dropping Koopman with a left hook in the first round. Moments later, he scored a second knockdown when Koopman’s gloves touched the canvas after eating a right. Koopman seemed to be tottering on the edge of a stoppage but kept his wits about him. In a dramatic turnaround, he nailed Cook with a left hook-right hand combination, the follow-up attack putting the Canadian down. In the second, Koopman’s right opened a bad cut above the left eye of Cook that gushed blood for the rest of the fight. Koopman was gaining ascendency, but Cook kept himself in the running by landing sporadic power shots. Who doesn’t like shootouts? That is exactly what junior In the third, Koopman dropped Cook again with a right uppercut to the body. Cook got up and was saved by the bell, but Koopman had found the key. Both went at each other in the fourth, with Koopman getting the better of the exchanges. Cook was taking punishment but landed an overhand right and left hook that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. The end came in the fifth. A right uppercut to the body sent Cook down again. He got up, but when a right uppercut to the head sent him stumbling back into a corner, the fight was waved off. Stoppage of the Year – Kaine Fourie TKO 4 Wasiru Mohammed In a battle of undefeated lightweights, prospect Kaine Fourie almost found
himself a knockout victim at the hands of Wasiru Mohammed from Ghana. A right hook from Mohammed, landed moments after the bell ended the second round, sent him down, badly hurt. Fourie took a beating in the third but recovered by the fourth. Suddenly he dropped Mohammed with a beautiful left hook. The Ghanaian got up, but a right hand-left hook combination dumped him, face-first, on the canvas. The fight was waved over without a count. It was far from a flawless performance by Fourie, but he ended it in spectacular fashion!
Comeback of the Year – Thulani Mbenge
After dropping a close majority decision to Souleymane Cissokho in France in 2022, welterweight Thulani Mbenge sat out the entirety of 2023, unable to get fights. His career seemed to be going nowhere, but that changed in 2024. He returned, banging out a unanimous 10-round decision over Leandro Ariel Fonseca in a crowd- pleasing slugfest. Then he journeyed to the U.K. to face awkward southpaw Michael McKinson. A left hook-right hook-left hook combination from McKinson appeared to buzz Mbenge in the first, but that would be the Brit’s best moment. By the third, Mbenge took over, varying combinations to the head and body, backing McKinson up and simply outworking him. Mbenge’s jab and straight right kept finding McKinson’s face just as effectively as his left hook found McKinson’s body. McKinson made his last stand in the ninth, letting his hands go, but at the end of the round Mbenge was back in control. He kept his foot on the gas all the way to the final bell. Mbenge got the nod on all three cards. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112, twice. Big things are expected in 2025! Droeks Malan is the South African correspondent for The Ring. You can follow him on YouTube at Droeks on Boxing, reach out to him on X @droeksonboxing or email droeks@gmail.com.
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