By Ron Jackson
South African welterweight Thulani Mbenge from Mdantsane near East London has his first fight as a professional outside his home country, when he makes the second defense of his IBO belt against the unbeaten Sebastian Formella from Hamburg, Germany at the CU Arena in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday night.
27-year-old Mbenge (15-0, 12 KOs) who was an outstanding amateur, winning the South Africa junior welterweight championship in 2010 and 2011; the South African welterweight championship in 2013 and a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
He made his professional debut on May 16, 2015 with a first round knockout win over Makhosenke Abrahams and then went on to win his next 9 fights inside the distance which included a seventh round stoppage win over Shaun Ness for the South African welterweight title.
His first distance fight was against southpaw Filipino Jayar Inson in June 2017 and three months later he made a successful defense of the South African welterweight title against Mziwoxolo Ndwayana (pts 12).
In March 2018 he won the vacant WBC International welterweight bout with a point’s victory over Diego Cruz.
On June 23, 2018 he was in outstanding form as he captured the vacant IBO welterweight belt with a seventh round stoppage win over Diego Gabriel Chaves and then a few days short of six months later made a successful defense against Miguel Vasquez (rtd 9).
Formella, 32, has been fighting as a pro since May 2014 and has racked up a record of 20-0, 10 KOs.
Most of his early fights were against opponents with poor records but in March 2018 he stopped Angelo Franks (13-1) to win the vacant IBO Intercontinental junior-middleweight title.
In his next two fights in 2018 he won against capable opponents Ilias Essaoudi (tko 7) and Betuel Ushona (pts 12)
It is interesting to note that one of the betting websites on the web favors Formella, who is ranked at #17 by the IBO and another site favors Mbenge.
The referee is Leszek Jankwiak and the judges are Jerome Lades, Rocky Young and Matteo Montella.