By Ron Jackson

South African flyweight champion Thembelani Nxoshe meets Ulises Lara from Mexico for the vacant WBC International flyweight title at the Mdantsane Indoor Centre near East London on Friday night. The tournament will be shown live on SS4 from 20:00 to 23:00. Nxoshe (19-7-2, 6 KOs) who made his pro debut in June 2008 has had a rather in an out career.

In December 2017 he lost on points to Nhanhla Ngamtwini and in a return match on June 17 this year he just managed to hold on to his South African flyweight title with a majority draw.

The same Ngamtwini was knocked in the third round by Lara (20-16-2, 12 KOs) in July this year in a bout for the WBA Intercontinental junior-bantamweight title.

Even though Lara who has been fighting as a pro for ten years has a poor record he is a vastly experienced fighter with power in both hands. Only 6 of his 16 losses have been inside the distance.

In the strange world of boxing ratings, Lara is listed at #12 flyweight in the latest WBC ratings.

So one would assume that if Ngamtwini wins the fight he could obtain a world ranking.

This is not an easy fight to predict a winner, but Ngamtwini who has only got a 21% knockout ratio would be well advised to box on the outside as Lara has won his last two fights inside the distance.