14 Feb 2022

The second Botswana Boxing Association interclub tournament hosted by Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB) boxing club at BUAN turned out to be a thriller despite low spectator turn out.

The tournament brought together the crem- de la-crem of amateur boxers as 36 male and six female boxers battled it out to impress national team selectors while others honored the tournament to rebuild physical strength after a long layoff.

Renowned for unearthing raw talent, the tournament lived up to its expectation from the first bout with Thapelo Roberts of Glen Valley retiring Nnono Keabetswe of EMG in the early rounds of the 51kg division.

The experienced Roberts had a field day and hit the ground running from the word go landing heavy punches on his less experienced opponent, forcing the referee to retire the bout.

In another 51kg bout Kgogobi, Joel of Mafika caused a major upset defeating national team boxer, Molatlhegi Kobamelo, in a one sided bout with the referring judging the bout five points in favour of Joel, while Kobamelo failed to register a point.

The much anticipated bout in the 54kg division between Mahummed Otukile and Ditswene Gillian was declared a walk over in favour of Otukile as Gillian failed to pitch up, much to the disappointment of the spectator who were itching for a glimpse of Otukile in action.

It goes without saying that the country had for years been blessed with an array of talent in the lightweight division but there’s something extra-special when the heavy men limber up, in this case Motswake Ronald of SSKB and EMG’s Rennie Tebogo of the 67kg division.

Evenly matched in body structure, Tebogo used his longer reach to keep off his opponent at bay with a number of jabs that scored him valuable points and resulted in the judges ruling the fight 4-10 in his favour.

Blows flew thick and fast in the ladies 57 kilogram bout that pitted Nkepe Gosaitse against Bele Phekile in what was the main event of the tournament.

The Francistown based Phekie, however proved the superior of the two in a tightly contested fight, narrowly outclassing her opponent with the judges scoring the bout 3-2 in her favour.

In other ladies bouts, Jenniefer Sechi defeated Poloko Gabolekane while bout between Lethabo Modukanele and Masego Morwaakgang was declared a walk over in favour of the former. ENDS