Namibia’s Ali Nuumbembe’s bid to win the World Boxing Foundation welterweight title ended in disappointment when he lost on a seventh round technical knockout to South Africa’s Bongani Mwelase on Friday night. Mwelase stunned Nuumbembe with a sharp right hook to the jaw, and when the Namibian staggered back, Mwelase was on him in a flash, unleashing a flurry of hooks to Nuumbembe’s head. Nuumbembe had no answer to the relentless pressure and finally went down after absorbing at least 12 blows. Although it seemed that Nuumbembe could have beaten the count, the referee immediately stepped in and counted him out.
It was a stunning turnaround as Nuumbembe had looked more dangerous and had dominated the fight till that point.
In the second round Nuumbembe caught Mwelase with some straight rights and combinations that had the South African in trouble. By the third round Mwelase’s nose was bleeding as Nuumbembe continued to jab effectively.
Nuumbembe was doing most of the attacking and stalking his opponent around the ring. By the end of the fourth round Nuumbembe had Mwelase in trouble with a sharp hook to the head, but the bell came to Mwelase’s rescue.
Mwelase caught Nuumbembe with a big punch at the start of round five, but Nuumbembe recovered quickly and finished stronger with some effective counter attacks.
Nuumbembe was a bit wild by the sixth round as he tried to knock Mwelase out, while the South African tried to slow the tempo by hanging on.
Nuumbembe once again started on the attack in the seventh round, with combinations to Mwelase’s head and body, but the fight turned dramatically when Mwelase caught Nuumbembe with a crunching right hook. Nuumbembe staggered back and Mwelase was on to him in a flash, pummelling away at the helpless Nuumbembe until the referee stepped in to stop the fight, 2 minutes 22 seconds into the seventh round.
It was Mwelase’s 13th consecutive victory, while it was Nuumbembe’s fourth defeat in 25 pro fights.
The defeat sees Nuumbembe without a title after he held two titles over the past two years. In February 2007 he won the Commonwealth welterweight title in Scotland, only to lose it 10 months later, and in June 2008 he won the WBA Pan African welterweight title. In terms of WBA rules he however had to relinquish his Pan African title to challenge for Mwelase’s title.