ZUKISANI KWAYIBA vs RONALD BARRERA

Three South African fighters are boxing in world championship elimination bouts today and it would be a nice boost for boxing in that nation if all three won. I believe that Jeffrey Mathebula can just about beat Julio Zarate and I make Malcolm Klassen a solid favourite over Manuel Medina. I think there could be an upset, though, in the IBF 105-pound title eliminator between unbeaten Zukisani Kwayiba and the Colombian Ronald Barrera.

A southpaw, Kwayiba has won 11 consecutive bouts with seven opponents halted. In his last fight, however, Kwayiba had a desperate struggle with Tshepo Lefele in a 12-rounder. I understand that he was hurt in the 10th round and on the verge of being stopped against a fellow-South African who had been stopped in two of his last three fights. In his fight before this, Kwayiba won by technical decision in seven rounds when a power failure caused his bout with the Filipino Alex Aroy to go to the scorecards, but a report I read suggested that the bout was at an interesting stage with the outcome in doubt.

Kwayiba can punch, though. He looked sensational knocking out fellow-South African Sithembile Kibiti in the first round and he was very impressive when stopping tough Filipino Gabriel Pumar after nine rounds in an all-southpaw fight, when Pumar suffered a cut that the referee ruled had been caused by a punch.

Barrera, 23, has boxed at a higher level than the South African and his last four losses were all on points against world champions, including split decision losses against Ivan Calderon and Juan Landaeta. He is a relaxed, classy boxer who frequently switches to the southpaw style. Kwayiba’s punching power must be respected, and the South African is boxing at home, which is a big advantage, but Barrera has boxed abroad before, including a world title bid in Japan. I think that Barrera can outbox the less-experienced Kwayiba to take a close win on points.