Nontshinga defends against Dominguez in Monte Carlo

South Africa’s Sivenathi Nontshinga makes the second defence of IBF junior flyweight title when he meets Adrian Curiel Dominguez from Mexico on Saturday at the Casino de Monte Carlo Salle Medecin in Monte Carlo.

The fight will be on the undercard of Joe Cordina’s defence of his IBF junior lightweight title.

The 24-year-old Nontshinga, 12-0; 9, goes into the ring with a 75 per cent knockout ratio against the 17 per cent ratio of Dominguez, 23-4-1; 4. He made his professional debut in 2017.

Rated at No. 12 by the IBF, Dominguez, 24, is more experienced than the South African having made his debut as a professional in March 2016 and engaged in 28 fights against the 12 of Nontshinga.

The South African is listed at No.2 light flyweight in the world by The Ring magazine and the IBF have Dominguez at number 12.

Nontshinga made the first defence of his title on 2 July this year against Regie Suganob in East London winning on points over 12 rounds.

The challenger has won his last eight fights since losing on a majority points decision against Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez in March 2020 and in his most recent fight in August this year he stopped Ivan Garcia in the third round.

The talented South African is the favourite to win on points over 12 rounds.

Kenshiro Teraji of Japan holds the WBC and WBA titles and Jonathan Gonzalez from Puerto Rico is the WBO champion.

JOE CORDINA DEFENDS AGAINST MANDATORY CHALLENGER

In the main event, IBF junior lightweight champion Joe Cordina, 16-0; 9, of Wales defends his title against the mandatory challenger, Edwin Vazquez, 15-1; 3, from Fort Worth, Texas.

Cordina, 31, won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and made his pro debut in 2017.  

He won the Commonwealth lightweight title in 2018 and the British lightweight title in 2019  and then captured the IBF junior lightweight belt in June last year with a second-round knockout over Kenichi Ogawa.

However, he was stripped of the title after suffering a hand injury, but regained the title on a split decision against Shavkatdzon Rakhimov.

Cordina goes into the fight against 28-year-old Vazquez in a contest that could go to a close decision over 12 rounds.