Linda Ximba
After successfully defending his South African bantamweight crown, Ronald Malindi is now able to realise his dream of owning a taxi.
Malindi had previously told Scrolla.Africa of his dream to one day own his own taxi from which he could run his own business.
However, he would only make enough money to buy a car by successfully defending his title.
Malindi scored a hard-fought 12-round split decision against number one ranked contender Rofhiwa Nemushungwa at Steve Tshwete Banquet Hall in Middelburg, Mpumalanga at the weekend.
Judges Ben Ncapai and Siya Mani scored it 115-114 and 117-115 for Malindi, and judge Simon Mokadi handed in a card of 115-114 for Nemushungwa.
After the fight the champion said: “My purse money was over R150,000 because this was my fourth defence. I have been making savings. With this money I intend to make arrangements with the bank to see if I qualify to buy my own Quantum taxi.
“I am glad I won but it was not easy,” said Malindi.
“I blame ring rustiness for my sluggish performance. That guy really showed he wanted to snatch the crown away from me but I couldn’t let him because I had set my sights on winning.”
In other fights staged by Joy4Joy Promotions, Thato Bonokoane defended his WBF International junior featherweight title in style by stopping southpaw Filipino Jhaleel Payao in the last round.
Home ground advantage didn’t help local girl Matshidiso Mokebisi against Katie Healy from Wolverhampton, England who won a lopsided points win in their WBF junior featherweight clash.
