Nqothole delighted to earn IBF world title shot

Mthatha boxer Sikho Nqothole experienced sheer ecstasy after convincingly beating English star Charlie Edwards in their IBF junior bantamweight eliminator at the York Hall in London on Friday evening.

But he maintains the job is not done until he gets his hands on the title belt.

That chance will be later this year or early next year.

It will be either against the current holder, Mexican Willibaldo Garcia, or Australian Andrew Moloney.

Garcia is scheduled to defend his title against challenger Moloney in Japan next weekend.

Nqothole earned a unanimous points decision over Edwards, with the judges scoring the fight 117-111, 116-112, and 116-113 in his favour.

“I knew I won the fight, but I was scared that he might get a hometown decision,” Nqothole said after the fight.

The 31-year-old controlled the pace of the contest from the start.

Both fighters began from behind their jabs, though Nqothole missed with most of his right-hand follow-ups in the opening round.

But he found his range in the second round, getting an overarm right behind Edwards’ left, quickly followed by a stiff jab to shake him up.

In the third, he landed a few heavy rights that stunned his opponent, establishing a clear dominance.

The taller Nqothole simply picked up from where he left off in the fourth, moving around and picking his punches well while slipping and avoiding most of his opponent’s punches.

And so the pattern continued, with Edwards closing the gap effectively for the first time only in the eighth round, but it was too little too late.

He didn’t have the goods to counter Nqothole’s handspeed and head movement.

He landed some good left hooks to the body in the 10th, but he was still soaking up punches thrown by Nqothole.

“That was my plan to work on him earlier because if I had waited for the championship rounds, it would have been late for me to catch up,” Nqothole said.

“I was fighting at his place; from the first round I had to show the hunger. We shared some rounds; even in those, I made sure that I got eight rounds, and then he could get four.

“I slowed down at the end, but I told myself, ‘Let me not put pressure on myself; let me box him’. I had done much of the job already. I just kept the rounds closer,” he said.