Halfan Hythani Hamza Mwakinyo vs. Julius Munyelele Indongo

Friday, 9/3 in Dar-Es-Salaam, airing on Azam TV. ABU (that is, African Boxing Union) super welterweight title at stake, 1st defense of Mwakinyo.

The champion and hometown fighter is 26 years old and has been on a rollercoaster in the last few years, cracking into the rankings with his upset of Sam Eggington, then fading from them as he failed to secure a big fight on its heels (getting a gift over Pinoy journeyman Arnel Tinampay along the way but otherwise doing nothing of note) until being scheduled to challenge Jack Culcay in - gulp - mid-late March of 2020. That fight obviously was scuppered and so this is probably the first time most fans outside Tanzania will catch a glimpse of him since Hearn flew him out to Birmingham.

Indongo, meanwhile, is coming off being knocked out within three rounds in three of his last four outings. Most recently it was Daniyar Yeleussinov pummeling him into submission in under five minutes on the Jacobs vs. Rosado undercard. It's been a rough tumble from grace for the Namibian southpaw glass cannon, now 38 years old, whom most observers regard as being among the weakest/luckiest belt holders in recent memory.

 

Wtf? ...per Tim Boxeo, the card is set to run for seven hours on Azam Sports, from 11am-6pm EST. There are only 7 bouts total listed on BoxRec: three six-rounders, a pair of eights, and two championship length co-features.

That adds up to about three hours and change worth of live fighting assuming no stoppages. Half the show's total runtime. God damn that's going to be a lot of filler or dead air. Gold star to anybody who sits through all seven hours of no-name African ham and eggers only for the main event featuring the guys they've actually heard of to last all of seven whole seconds.