The writing is already on the wall: DR Congo are aiming for nothing else but the overall victory.
Inspired by their passionate and loudly enthusiastic dancing fans, the dominant Congolese boxers have so won eight fights and lost one with their main rivals and defending champions Morocco winning five fights and losing one.
The second day of the tournament was another furious exchange of fists as boxers eye a podium finish as well as prestige and personal glory. As for prize money, there’s nothing official yet.
Among the highlights of the second day were the middleweight and cruiserweight bouts in which DR Congo’s two-time Africa champion and the acrobatic Senegalese Mouhamed Ba threw bombs at each other in an action-packed cruiserweight encounter won by Kabeji who is aiming a third consecutive gold medal in the continental event. He’s disappointed his arch-rival Tanzania’s Yusuf Changalawe has pulled out, describing him as a coward.
“I was really waiting for Changalawe to silence him once and for all but he’s scared of me that’s why he didn’t come,” said a bullish Kabeji.
Though he lost, the Senegalese entertained the crowd with with his daring somersaults which he said Kabeji can’t manage.
Kudos to Senegal’s Alphonse Mendy and Morocco’s Yassine El Ouarz for their brilliant show of technical finesse in the middleweight quarter-final bout won by the African Games silver all medallist Ouarz.
“That’s fake result, I won the fight, I’m not happy,” said an angry Mendy backed by his teammates among them lovely heavyweight Khadija Cisse.
“Mendy was the winner not the Moroccan, he boxed well and hit his opponent with more punches,” said Khadija who meets Cameroon’s bronze medallist in Yaounde, Bernadette Keuye in the semi-finals after benefiting from a bye while Keuye outpointed Angola’s Gloria Deus Kanheba in the quarter-finals
There was consolation however for Angola as two of their boxes, bantamweight Nuno Antonio Ribeiro and cruiserweight Adriano Kiana sailed through to the semi-finals with convincing victories. Ribeiro stopped Sierra Leone’s Arnold Koroma in the first round and Kiana also won inside the distance stopping Chad’s Samuel Mudjiadoum in the second round.
Zimbabwean coach, Titus Joseph was unhappy over what he said was a questionable stoppage in the middleweight quarter-final bout between his boxer, Blessing Dumisani and Ethiopia’s African Games bronze medallist Temesgen Mitiku, who won via referee-stopped decision in the first round.
“I’m just confused, I don’t know why the fight was stopped, my boxer was not tired and no punch hurt him,” said coach Titus Joseph who cautioned referees to avoid stopping fights without reasonable explanation.
“Some of these referees have never been in the ring, they don’t know the amount of time a boxer spends in training and then a fight is stopped when the boxers is still fit to fight on.”
In addition to Kabeji, other DR Congo boxers who won their fights were impressive flyweight and silver medal winner in Yaounde last year flyweight Nyembo Gisele (pictured), welterweight Masuasua Ilunga, middleweight David Tshama who stopped Somalia’s London-based Abdirahman Omar in the third round and bantamweight Bakora Kalongo. Lightweight Frazier Mujinga is the only DR Congo boxer who has lost, beaten by Morocco’s Zouhair Fadel.
Day Two full results
Men’s bantamweight: Manuel Banguine (Mozambique) beat Francis Andre Guillaume (Mauritius), Nuno Antonio Ribeiro (Angola) stopped Arnold Koroma (Sierra Leone), Kombo Bakana (Congo) beat Hassani Ben Cheik (Comoros), Bakora Kalongo (DRC) beat Johanes Trofimas (Namibia).
Men’s lightweight: Ngassay Ngollo (Congo) beat Mohamed Radjay (Comoros) pts, Abdou Mbacke Diop (Senegal) beat Muhamed Ntungiye Bose (Burundi) pts, Abubeker Redwan (Ethiopia) beat Alou Sacko (Mali) pts, Zouhair Fadel (Morocco) beat Frazier Mujinga (DRC) pts.
Men’s cruiserweight: Adriano Kiana (Angola) stopped Samuel Madjiadoum (Chad) round two, Ahmed Badrani (Morocco) received a walkover against Tanzania’s Yusuf Changalawe who pulled out owing to urgent personal issue, Abeb Georges (Cameroon) beat Chrispine Ochanda (KDF) pts, Pita Kabeji (DRC) beat Mohamed Ba (Senegal) pts..
Women’s flyweight: Ncube Ntandoyenkosi South Africa) stopped Faith Nafuna (Kenya) round one, Nyembo Gisele (DRC) stopped Manuela Camila (Mozambique) round one.
Women’s heavyweight: Bernadette Keuye (Cameroon) beat Gloria Deux Kanheba (Angola) pts
Men’s welterweight: Abdelhaq Nadir (Morocco) beat Mohamed Oumarou (Cameroon) pts, Masuasua Ilunga (DRC) beat Christopher Missengue (Congo) pts, Amene Marquis Zoele (Mauritius) beat Boidje Betoubam (Central African Republic) RSC round one.
Men’s middleweight: Yassine El Ouarz (Morocco) beat Alphonse Mendy (Senegal) pts, Temesgen Mitiku (Ethiopia) stopped Blessing Dumisani (Zimbabwe) round one, Traore Djibril (Mali) beat Albert Ognane Josias (Gabon) pts, David Tshama (DRC) stopped Abdirahman Omar (Somalia) round one.
Credit: AFBC Communications
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