Zambian boxing icon Patrick 'Baddo' Chinyemba won the IBA African flyweight title with a fourth-round technical knockout victory over Ghana's Theophilus 'Lopez' Allotey at the inaugural IBA Champions' Night in Africa at the Adwa Museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Saturday evening, August 17.

Allotey, seemingly unable to withstand Chinyemba's body blows that sapped his energy, went to the canvas three times. The referee was counting Allotey down on his third visit to the canvas in the fourth round after Chinyemba's short uppercut to the body sent the 22-year-old Ghanaian to his knees.

He beat the count and went to his corner pointing with his gloves to the section below the belt, signalling to his coaches that Chinyemba had hit him with a low blow. The Zambian dismissed Allotey's complaint of a blow below the belt as a big joke as he looked at his corner and smiled, clearly not believing he had hit Allotey below the belt.

The referee then awarded a TKO victory to Chinyemba, apparently unconvinced by Allotey's imaginary punch under Chinyemba's belt, who was loudly applauded by the sold-out crowd as he danced in celebration of his deserved victory. The Ghanaian had the advantage in the first round, but Chinyemba began to dictate the pace towards the end of the second round, shifting into high gear in the fourth round as he subjected Allotey to a barrage of blows aimed mainly at his body.

In a post-match interview in his dressing room, Allotey was in tears, claiming that the referee had not penalised Chinyemba for what he claimed was a low blow. Allotey’s coach, Dr Ofori Asare, was not sure whether it was a low blow that saw Allotey limp back to the dressing room.

Until the fourth round, when Allotey was TKO'd, all three judges gave the score in favor of Chinyemba.

Chinyemba and his two coaches, Wisdom Mudenda and Ariel Banda, laughed off Allotey’s accusations that he had been hit low. “He is faking it. I never hit him below the belt, he should accept that he could not handle my body shots,” said Chinyemba, the IBA Africa flyweight belt strapped to his waist.

This is the colourful Zambian boxer’s second win at the IBA Champions Night and he is so far the only African to have won the prestigious tournament held in the professional boxing format twice. His first victory came last year in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, where he beat Russian Artur Nagapetian on points in a six-round flyweight bout.

The highly anticipated first edition of the IBA Champions Night, held in Addis Ababa and attended by distinguished guests including Ethiopian Sports Minister Shewit Shanka, brought together boxers from Zambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Morocco, Mexico, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, DR Congo and Tanzania. Commonwealth and African Games bronze medallist Yusuf Changalawe claimed a 2-1 win over DR Congo’s All Africa Games light heavyweight champion Pita Kabeji in their third encounter.

Kabeji had beaten Changalawe twice this year, first in the semi-finals of the All Africa Games in Accra, Ghana, and then at the inaugural Mandela Africa Boxing Cup tournament in Durban, South Africa. Kabeji entered the ring as the favourite, but the Tanzanian boxer turned the tide to claim a victory that was closely contested by Kabeji and his coaches.

“I accept defeat with sportsmanship but it is obvious that I am the winner, I am waiting for Changalawe at home at the African Championships in October ,” said Kabeji who has represented the national team since 2018. He was revealed at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco where he settled for silver. He then won two gold medals at the 2022 African Championships in Maputo and 2023 in Yaounde.

In the first middleweight bout of the night, Nigerian Patricia Mbata, a London-based construction project manager, outwitted Mozambique’s two-time African champion Rady Gramane to claim her second straight victory in her third fight against the southpaw Gramane, who also won bronze at the 2022 World Championships in Istanbul. Having made her international debut for Nigeria last year at the African Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon, Mbata was knocked out by Gramane who went on to win gold and retain her middleweight title that she won at the 2022 tournament in Maputo. Mbata avenged her semi-final defeat at this year’s African Games in Accra, Ghana, to claim her first ever gold medal. Mbata was on cloud nine after her second straight win over Gramane.

“I am so excited to have beaten Gramane again, and also to box with eight-ounce gloves and without headgear for the first time ,” said a jovial Mbata after the six-round middleweight bout that did not have the expected fireworks. “I was fully prepared for the fight, in fact, I couldn’t believe it when the six rounds were over because I still had so much fuel in my tank. My victory has given me more confidence and shows that I am progressing well since I joined the Nigeria national team last year.”

Despite the overwhelming support of the home crowd, two Ethiopian boxers, Abubeker Sefan in the lightweight category and Temesgen Mitiku, the All-Africa Games middleweight bronze medallist, were beaten fairly. Sefan was no match for Ghanaian All-Africa Games champion and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Joseph Commey who beat him 3-0 in a one-sided fight that saw Sefan back down for most of the fight as Commey chased him. It was only in the second round that Sefan rocked Commey with fast combinations to the roaring applause of the Ethiopian fans. Most of them stood up to cheer the home boxer but his onslaught was short-lived as Commey came back to completely dominate Sefan.

Much was expected of Mitiku in his second fight against Morocco’s African Games silver medallist Yassine Elouarz. The Moroccan defeated Mitiku in the semi-finals at the African Games in Accra. In their second encounter, Elouarz was more dominant, hurting Mitiku repeatedly with well-timed body shots.

“My coach Yerik Algabek from Kazakhstan told me to go to the body because when he covered his face with his high guard, he left his body wide open, that’s why I hit him several times with my body shots ,” Elouarz said.

In other sideline bouts – all at minimum weight – involving boxers from outside Africa, the Russian world championship bronze medallist put in a remarkable performance by unanimously beating Mexico's Daniel Valladeraz while Kazakhstan's Temirtas Zhussupov celebrated his victory over Uzbekistan's Nodirjon Mirzakhmedov.

Overall, it was a wonderful evening of high quality boxing with a proud African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) President, Eyassu Wossen, thanking the International Boxing Association for bringing Night of Champions boxing to Africa for the first time.

“We are very grateful to the IBA for their exceptional gesture in making it possible to stage the first Champions’ Night fights in Africa. It was a historic moment for African boxing, the organisation was fantastic. We hope that the IBA will stage the next Champions’ Night fights in Zimbabwe ,” said Wossen.

Media contacts: Elena Sobol, Communications and Public Relations Manager, International Boxing Association: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Results of the evening's fights

MAIN CARD

MEN'S 51 KG – 8 ROUNDS
PATRICK CHINYEMBA (ZAM) VS ALLOTEY THEOPHILUS (GHA)
Result: TKO R4 PATRICK CHINYEMBA

MEN'S 80 KG – 8 ROUNDS
PETER PITA KABEJI (COD) VS YUSUF CHANGALAWE (TAN)
Result: WP 2:1 YUSUF CHANGALAWE

MEN'S 48 KG – 8 ROUNDS
NODIRJON MIRZAKHMEDOV (UZB) VS TEMIRTAS ZHUSSUPOV (KAZ)
Result: WP TEMIRTAS ZHUSSUPOV

MEN'S 48 KG – 8 ROUNDS
DANIEL VALLADERAZ (MEX) VS EDMOND KHUDOYON (RUS)
Result WP 3:0 EDMOND KHUDOYON

UNDER CARD

WOMEN'S 75 KG – 8 ROUNDS
PATRICIA MBATA (NGR) VS RADY ADOSINDA GRAMANE (MOZ)
Result: WP PATRICIA MBATA

MEN'S 60 KG – 6 ROUNDS
ABUBEKER SEFAN (ETH) VS COMEY JOSEPH (GHA)
Result: WP 3:0 COMEY JOSEPH

MEN'S 75 KG – 6 ROUNDS
YASSINE ELOUARZ (MAR) VS TEMESGEN MITIKU (ETH)
Result: WP YASSINE ELOUARZ