Nocele triumphs in Hope Street boxing tournament

• Published date: 08 May 2024
• Author: Lonwabo Marele lonwabo.marele@acm.co.za
• Publication title: Southern Mail

In front of an electrifying crowd, rooted in deep spirit and admiration of their fighter, the odds were stacked in Nocele’s favour right from the start

Making weight the previous day was easy money for the bantamweight fighter. He has been longing for the night to arrive, edging him one step closer to the titles he envisions wearing in the near future.

At the African Pride Fighting Championships event with Insane Boxing Promotions, Nocele “The Black Italian” dominated his opponent.

Although this was his fourth win on the professional scene, Nocele went into the ring with 180 fights and only 16 defeats in his amateur career.

“For me it’s always easy to read the fighter. If we know the stance for the guy there is nothing much to know about him. We knew we were fighting an orthodox and that was the game plan and it worked. In the first round he came a bit awkward. We knew it was six rounds. Fighting a six-round fight is different from fighting a four-round fight. So we just had to study him a little bit in the first round.”

Knowing nothing besides seeing a 40-second clip of his opponent’s stance, Nocele came into the fight having a strategy to win and it paid off well.

The first punch he threw had already put the A-Z Boxing Academy fighter, Makhodo, gasping. In the second round, Nocele’s left uppercut and left hook combination to the jaw, had Makhado’s knees buckling, sending him straight to the canvas.

“I knew that was the punch that was going to take him down. I saw it from the first round. I did set him up in the first round and then I could see the opening.

“I went back to the corner, came back from the corner and went straight to the money,” he said.

Nocele added a second knockout to his tally, announcing his hunger for more in the bantamweight division.

“Honestly, man, it feels great. I was not expecting a lot of fans and...