By Ron Jackson

South African super middleweight champion Rowan Campbell could be extended to the limit when he defends his IBO All Africa super middleweight title against the big punching Johannesburg based Patrick Mukala from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at Emperors Palace near Kempton Park on Friday night.

Campbell (10-0, 6 KOs) has only been fighting as a pro since December 2016.

He won the South African super middleweight title on August 10 last year in a closely fought 12 rounder against Renson Hobyani and in his next fight captured the vacant IBO All Africa super middleweight title with a points victory over Alex Kabangu.

In May this year at Emperors Palace, he retained the IBO title with a comfortable point’s victory over Yanga Phetani, with scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 98-93.

The 25-year-old Mukala (11-1-1, 10 KOs) made his pro debut in August 2014 and won eight of his first nine fights inside the distance before losing on points to the more experienced Ryno Liebenburg in October 2017.

The only other blot on his record was in his most recent fight in September 2018 when he fought to a split draw against Emmanuel Anim in defence of his WBA Pan Africa super middleweight title.

There are two other exciting matchups on the card with Rourke Knapp, 21, who has a record of 10-0; 6 up against 34-year-old Aleksandr Zhuravskiy 13-5-1; 11 from Kazakhstan and a Gauteng junior bantamweight title fight between Ricardo Malajika 4-0; 3 and Layton Gloss 5-2;3 for the vacant title.

Other bouts on the card are Junior lightweights Cayden Truter vs Lopez Maluleke over four rounds, welterweight four rounds, Darrin Rossouw vs Ramsey Hlungwani and a light heavyweight bout between Luvyo Sizani and Karabo Mokupi also over four rounds.

The tournament is presented by Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves Promotions.