Jon Jon’s power shines through 

Paulinus ‘Jon Jon’ Ndjolonimus took a while to click into gear but in the end his power was too much as he beat Abubaka Mubarak with a technical knockout in the ninth round to retain his WBO Africa super middleweight title on Saturday night. 

Ndjolonimus looked sluggish at the start and struggled to find his range against his shorter opponent who’se awkward style made him an elusive target. 

Abubaka took the fight to Ndjolonimus with some flurries of attacks, but his shots didn’t have much effect, while Ndjolonimus managed to accumulate some points with his longer reach and jab. 

After some ineffective early rounds, the fight exploded into action in the sixth round when Mubarak came out swinging and piled on the pressure, but it just seemed to re-energise Ndjolonimus, who retaliated with some heavy blows and by the end of the round the Ghanaian was in trouble. 

He managed to see out the round, but Ndjolonimus started to rake in the points with his long jab, and by the ninth round he was clearly on top. The end came suddenly when Ndjolonimus sent Mubarak to the canvas with a right hook, and although he managed to beat the count, the referee decided he had enough and stopped the fight.

Mubarak was clearly unhappy after the fight saying that the referee had stopped the fight too soon, but by then Ndjolonimus was well in control. It was Mubarak’s first defeat in 13 fights as a pro boxer, while Ndjolonimus is now undefeated after 20 pro fights, and with a WBO ranking of fourth in the world, he still remains on track for a world title fight. 

After the fight Ndjolonimus said he struggled with Mubarak’s style. 

“He was a bit short so I was trying to figure out how to get him but in the end I figured him out and he went down. The guy is short, I’m a tall man and he also bent down so it made it difficult to hit him. I was using my jab on the outside but it didnt always work on the inside. I was just waiting for him to make a mistake and when he made it, he went down,” he said.

In the main curtain raiser Mateus Heita beat Tatenda Biningu of Zimbabwe on a fifth round TKO to win the vacant WBO Africa featherweight title. 

Biningu gave a good account of himself, taking the fight to Heita from the start, and by the second round both boxers had the crowd up on its feet shouting for more as they slugged it out toe to toe. 

Both boxers maintained their high tempo, but by the fifth round Heita’s power started to tell as he hammered away at Biningu in the Zimbabwean’s corner. 

He managed to see out the round but his corner decided he had had enough and threw in the towel. 

Afterwards Heita said Biningu gave him a tough fight. 

“It was a tough fight, I didn’t expect it to be like this, so I take my hat off to him, but I did it. My punches were too hard for him, he couldn’t handly my power – he thought he was going to go the distance but my power was too much,” he said.

It was Heita’s 14th consecutive win as a pro and he, too, could be aiming for higher honours now. 

“I’ll be in the top 20 in the world now, and from here my promoter will take it up for me,” he said. 

Jaremiah Nakathila made quick work of Zimbabwe’s Tafazwa Nushando, who was clearly not in the same league. Nakathila sent him down to the canvas early in the first round ande although he survived the count, Nakathila knocked him down a second time before the Zimbabwean’s corner threw in the towel, with the fight being stopped after only two minutes 24 seconds of the first round. 

The other results were as follows:

Alfeus Shaanika beat Johannes Frela on points in a junior welterweight fight. 

Martin Mukungu beat Nicanor Halwendo on a third round TKO in a junior lightweight fight. 

Jonathan Kasheta beat Nestor Thomas on points in a bantamweight national title fight. 

Emmanuel Mungandjela beat Freeman Mabvongwe on points in a welterweight fight.

Naftalie Sheyapo beat Anele Bafana on a first round TKO in a heavyweight fight.

Josef Ampeya beat Nestor Amukoto on points in a welterweight fight.

Tangeni Salomon beat Jonas Lukas on points in a lightweight fight. 

Frederick Nghutenanye beat Herman John on a second round TKO in a featherweight fight.