Domestic Super Bantamweight boxing sensational, Francis Miyeyusho, successfully defended his Universal Boxing Organization (UBO) Inter-continental title with an impressive fifth-round knockout of Malawian, John Masamba, at the New Vijana Club’s hall, Kinondoni, in Dar es Salaam on Friday.

Miyeyusho fought impressively right from the first round of the scheduled eight round fight and, with his opponent opting for a rather more defensive approach, it was only a matter of time before the Tanzanian boxer registered his victory.

With almost all of the spectators in the hall cheering him, Miyeyusho started the bout in stunning fashion, in which he landed a couple of good punches on Masamba and forced the latter to retreat and find ways to counter his opponent’s approach.

Miyeyusho, who had a height advantage over the Malawian, looked every inch more inventive than his opponent and continued to hit several more good punches for the rest of the round amid deafening cheers from fans, who were joined by a special cheering group backed by drums and other traditional music equipment.

The second round saw Miyeyusho send Masamba to the canvas three times with fast and accurate combination of punches. The Malawian was sent down twice midway through the round and once during the round’s last second. The Malawian continued to endure punishment from the uncompromising Miyeyusho in the third round but the former, amazingly, was unfazed and managed to hit some good punches and somewhat kept the Tanzanian at bay particularly during the closing stages.

Masamba was as resilient as ever in the fourth round despite having almost been turned into a punching bag by Miyeyusho, whose desire to register a knockout win was, by then, quite clear thanks to his increasing punching speed. Miyeyusho maintained his tempo in the early stages of the fifth round and continued to torment Masamba with stunning combination of jabs and the latter had to retreat and keep his guard up.

The punishment was too much for the Malawian by the time the round reached midway as the diminutive boxer ran to his corner and conceded defeat. Overjoyed Miyeyusho fans mobbed their hero on the ring to congratulate him shortly after the bout, while many others sang and danced around the ring to express their delight at witnessing magnificent performance by the Tanzanian boxer.

“I didn’t have better preparations before the bout… I didn’t have many sit up exercises like I used to have before other bouts, so, I had problems with my stomach in the fight. I’m going to seek a re-match with Francis in two months’ time…I’m going to prepare well and knock this guy down,” said Masamba after the bout.

By JAPHETH KAZENGA, Tanzania Daily News

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