By Ron Jackson

Nhlanhla Tyirha returns to action for the first time since October last year when he meets the tough Filipino, Esneth Domingo in a ten round non-title light flyweight bout at the East London International Convention Centre on Saturday.

Domingo, 23, from Sultan, Kudarat who has compiled a record of 16-1, 8 KOs, will be having his second fight outside his home country. The first fight was against Minth Phat Sam in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, where he won on a majority six-round points decision.

The only loss in his career came against Alphoe Dagayloan in 2019 and since then he has scored victories against Belman Plaza (ko 1), Minh Phat Sam (pts 6), Gerald Alvarez (ko 2), Roland Jay Biendima (pts 10) and Jesse Espinas (pts 10)

The 22-year-old Tyira’s only loss came against the vastly more experienced Nkosinathi Joyi in 2019.

Tyirha (6-1, 2 KOs) who fights from the southpaw stance has two wins against Filipino fighters like Jaysever Abcede and Joey Canoy.

In his most recent fight on 1 October last year, he outpointed Abcede over 10 rounds in a clash for the vacant WBO Global light flyweight title.

This will be a tough contest for the talented Tyirha who is rated at No. 6 by the WBO and at No. 7 by the WBC.

The tournament will be shown on Saturday from 17:00 – 22:00 on SS Variety 3.