Masibulele "Hawk" Makepula fought one of his best bouts when he knocked out Juan Palape of the Philippines in the sixth round of their WBC international superflyweight title fight at the Graceland Casino on Friday night.
Makepula launched a gruelling attack, using a barrage of stick jabs, right upper cuts and solid left hooks that forced his challenger to stagger back to the ropes. As the punishment continued, Palape was forced to kiss the canvas after he had had enough of Makepula's combination of blows. This forced the referee to count him out for the official stoppage time of one minute five seconds in the sixth round.
It was in the fifth round when Makepula used every punch under the sun to finish off his younger opponent who sometimes used his counter punches to good effect, which almost spoiled Makepula's fight strategy. Palape, a relatively unknown challenger who entered the fight with weight problems, gave Makepula one of the toughest fights of his career, which includes 11 world title fights.
Makepula improved his record to 27 wins from 29 fights. He was making his first title defence of the title he won via a convincing victory over Rolly Lunas in East London last February.
Maskepula is highly rated by the world boxing bodies, including WBC, IBF and WBO, and after this fight it is highly likely that he will challenge WBC kingpin Fernando Montiel later this year. - Sapa