By Ron Jackson

South Africa’s Xolisani Ndongeni from Duncan Village in the Eastern Cape is scheduled to meet Arnold Barboza Jr. of Los Angeles in a ten round lightweight bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday April 25, on the undercard of the unification bantamweight bout between Naoya Inoue and John Riel Casimero.

The 29-year-old Ndongeni has compiled a record of 26-1; 14 since making his pro debut since in May 2010.

In an outstanding career he has won the Eastern Cape, South African, WBF International junior lightweight titles; and the South African, IBO International, WBA Pan Africa, IBO and WBF lightweight titles.

The only loss on his career came against the highly rated Devin Haney 24-0; 15 from Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2019, who would go on to win the WBC lightweight belt.

Haney was far too experienced and Ndongeni was well beaten on a unanimous ten round point’s decision in a clash for the vacant WBC International lightweight title. The scores were 100-89 twice and 99-90.

However, Ndongeni faces stiff opposition from the 28-year Barboza 23-0; 10 who has been fighting as a as a pro for nearly seven years.

He won the vacant NABF junior lightweight title with a points win over Manuel Damairias Lopez (14-2-1) in December 2018 and since then has scored inside the distance wins over Mike Alavarado, Ricky Sismando and William Silva.