03 Apr 2023

 A 71kg bout between Kagiso Bagwasi of DTCB and Kenaope Boifang of Francistown was the highlight of an interclub boxing tournament in Gaborone on Saturday.

The pugilists entered the ring determined to triumph, but it was Bagwasi who won 5-0 in a bout that almost ended in the first round after he had sent Boifang to the ropes with a jab.

Determined to go the distance, Boifang beat the count and convinced the referee that he was fine and he ultimately stomached Bagwasi’s punches until the end of the third round. In an interview after the fight, Boifang, a semi-professional pugilist, said despite suffering the heavy defeat, the tournament gave him the much needed practice after a lengthy lay-off from an injury he had suffered after he was attacked by some criminals.

He attributed the poor performance to the long break.

“I respect Bagwasi as a professional boxer, but when I get inside the ring fear is not in my character.  I tackle all my opponents with determination to impress and win,” he said. On one hand, Bagwasi was also happy about his performance.

He said even though it was clear that he could have ended the match in the first round by knocking his opponent down, he prolonged the fight to gauge his fitness level.

“Boifang is a competent boxer and he gave me the much needed practice that was enough to determine my fitness level,” he said. Another highlight of the tournament was the women’s 66kg category between Keamogetse Kenosi of DTCB and Gift Modise from Francistown. From the beginning, the experienced Kenosi wanted to end the match with her first punch, but Modise was able to beat the referee’s count and continued with the fight but lost 0-5 at the end of the three rounds.

In another fight, George Molwantwa of BMC won after Thatayaone Lekoba of Diamond threw in the towel in the third round of the of 57kg category as he could not contain the pressure.

In yet another exciting bout, Tebogo Rennie of Diamond beat Lesego Lere of Molepolole 4-1 in the 63.3kg category.  The bout was characterised by counter punches, clinching and throwing of endless punches from both boxers.  Despite putting up a stern performance, Lere was disadvantaged by below the belt punches from his opponent.

A closely contested bout was witnessed between Mmusi Tswiige of Prisons and Kabo Seitshiro of EMG in the 67kg category which saw both pugilists display skill and thereby making it difficult to decide the winner.

However, Tswiige won 3-2 by a split decision from the referees.

On one hand, Aobakwe Mphezulu of SSKB and Ditlhopho Ramo of Molepolole were also neck to neck with each other, only for Mphezulu to finish with a narrow 3-2 win.  ENDS