By Ron Jackson
Rowan Campbell outhustled Renson Hobyani to win the vacant South African super-middleweight title on a unanimous 12 round points decision at Emperors Palace near Kempton Park on Friday night.
Judges Ben Ncapayi and Tony Nyangiwe scored it a rather close 114-113 and 115-113 whilst judge Neville Hotz was closer to mark with a scorecard of 116-111.
There was very little in the fight through the first four rounds with the well-conditioned Campbell (75.20 kg) fighting off the front foot throughout the fight.
In rounds seven and eight Campbell scored to the head and body but in the ninth it became untidy as Hobyani (76.20 kg) began to tire and held on.
Campbell dominated in the round ten and dropped Hobyani with a big right hand to the side of the head that sent him down on his side.
He managed to beat referee Thabo Spampool’s count and held on to the bell against the barrage of punches coming in from Campbell.
Campbell continued to apply pressure through rounds eleven and twelve as the gutsy Hobyani held on to the final bell.
Campbell improved his record to 8-0, 2 KOs, and Hobyani’s reported record dropped to 8-3, 2 KOs.
GROTH CLAIMS INTERIM SA MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE
In a bout billed for the interim South African middleweight title, Wade Groth (72.00 kg) stopped Wynand Mulder (71.95 kg) in the sixth round.
In a grueling affair with both fighters throwing big bombs from the opening round the younger Groth proved too strong for the bloodied Mulder before referee Simon Mokadi stepped in to call the fight off at 2 minute 22 seconds into the sixth round.
Groth’s reported record improved to 7-0, 5 KOs, and Mulder’s record dropped to 4-5-1, 4 KOs.
OTHER RESULTS
Junior-middleweight: Ayabonga Sonjica beat Deon Mbumbana tko 1, Junior-welterweight: Jabulane Makhanse beat Siya Mabena, pts 4; Cruiserweight: Keaton Gomes beat Moses Bila tko 1.
The tournament was presented by Rodney Berman in conjunction with African Ring.