Sivenathi Nontshinga scored a flash knock-down in the second round on his way to grinding out a split decision victory over Hector Flores in Mexico on Saturday night (Sunday morning SA time) to lift the vacant IBF junior-flyweight title.
Two judges scored it for the South African, who finished strongly over the final three rounds, by margins of 116-111 and 114-113, while the third had the Mexican winning 115-112.
Flores, suffering the first defeat of his professional career, dropped to 20 wins, one loss and four draws.
The 23-year-old Nontshinga, whose unblemished record improves to 11-0 (9 KOs), now holds the SA record for fewest fights to win a mainstream world title, surpassing the previous best of 14 by Vic Toweel set in 1950.
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