Two explosive title fights are set for Thursday’s EFC 122 card, which is bursting at the seams with the biggest fighting stars in Africa, Afrosport reports.
EFC heavyweight champion from Réunion Islands, Anthony ‘Big’ Morel, mounts a title defence against Africa’s legendary heavyweight boxing champion and EFC crowd favourite, Elvis ‘The Bomber’ Moyo. Meanwhile, two-time bantamweight champion from Cape Town, Faeez ‘Troublemaker’ Jacobs, ascends the ramparts to protect his belt against the brawling, malevolent roadblock, Sibusiso ‘Somandla’ Sovendle.
Morel has quickly garnered a reputation as one of the biggest rising stars—not just in French MMA, but in the 265lbs division globally. He proved as much by taking the gold in a devastating display of pure power last year against Englishman Joffie Houlton, securing a first-round knockout.
However, for his first title defence, he must deal with a Zimbabwean legend whose chin is as impenetrable as the granite rock running beneath the great Shona hunting grounds. A boxer who has laid waste to heavyweight greats such as Strauss, Mbuyi, Misholas, Vermeulen, and Yamdjie. A man they call ‘The Bulawayo Bomber’ due to his canyon-carving fists and boat-burning refusal to back down—the one and only Elvis Moyo.
Despite the gargantuan main event between two fighters, who like to get it done in one, the co-main event title fight is far more than just an appetiser. When Capetonian hero Jacobs lost his first bantamweight title defence four years ago, he swore that same day he’d reclaim it. He then proceeded to beat a path back to contendership with a series of world-class performances—including revenge over the man who took his belt all those years ago, Sylvester Chipfumbu.
Then, finally last year he faced Vince Bembe at EFC 117 who he choked-out in the second round to buckle-up the gold once again. But his opponent this time around is as equal to the challenge as Chipfumbu was, Silverton’s striker of serial sibilance, Sovendle. Earning his top ranking with a hanging wall of 135lb scalps, he has put away five of the finest including most recently, Roevan de Beer and Ntando Zondi to earn a crack at Troublemaker.
Hailing from the infamous Brothers in Arms outfit in Pretoria and a protogée of his inspirational mentor Conrad Seabi, ‘Triple S’ is a perpetual machine of violence who will out-strike, out-scramble and outlast and has been finished only once in his entire professional career, making him the toughest possible challenge available to Jacob’s early reign.
With contracts for these two massive titles fights already signed, the EFC 122 card is nearly complete—12 bouts in total, set to test the very foundations of the World Sports Betting Arena in Johannesburg.
