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This past Friday, Tshifhiwa Munyai confirmed his status as world class prospect, successfully defending his Commonwealth Bantamweight crown with a vicious four
round pounding of former victim Martin Power on a Frank Maloney Promotion at Goresbrook LC in Dagenham, England.
Power lost his undefeated record to Munyai last year in a back and forth thriller, but was way out of his depth this time.
Round one: Power, from Camden Town, entered the ring smiling confidently and made a decent start, nipping in and out with some decent right hands to head and body. Halfway through the first round, the champion hailing from South Africa began to find his timing and when he did, he looked blistering, throwing every punch in the book at Power. A sickening right hand to the body caused the challenger to grimace at the end of the first.
Round two: The second round saw Munyai come to life even more as backed Power up and just unleashed punch after punch with frightening accuracy. The challenger
responded every time he was caught but did not have the punch power to keep Munyai off and even at this early stage, there only looked one winner. At the end of the
second, Power appeared to be complaining of a damaged right arm.
Round three: An arm injury was the last thing Power needed as Munyai went up another gear in round three and Power was struggling to stay with him. The South African was now rattling off the combinations with unbelievable ferocity. Power’s head was being snapped back with booming right hands and he just didn’t know where the punches were coming from. Munyai was fighting like a man hell bent on destruction and was prepared to walk through everything that came his way.
Round four: Due to the arm injury and how one sided the fight was, Power’s trainer Johnny Eames gave him one last round to turn the fight on its head. Power, to his credit, tried his hardest to knock the South African out with winding left hooks and straight rights but he was just outgunned by Munyai who’s punches were stronger and fired out as if they were on a spring. The end came at the end of the fourth with Power’s corner pulling their man out despite the protests to carry on.
For Munyai, 13-0-1 (8), a world title shot is surely in his future plans but for now it seems he will defend his Commonwealth title and despite the loss, Power, 19-2 (8), can certainly come back with some potentially cracking match ups against Lee Haskins and a rematch with Ian Napa is a real possibility.
