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Johannesburg - Thabiso Mchunu outclassed respected American fighter Eddie Chambers for a clear-cut cruiserweight points win in his United States debut at the Mohagan Arena in Connecticut on Saturday night.
Two of the judges scored the fight 99-91 in favour of the boxer from Cato Ridge in KwaZulu-Natal. The third judge made it 97-93 as the 31-year-old Chambers showed little of the skill that had earned him a tilt at Wladimir Klitschko's world heavyweight title.
"They said I was crazy to throw Thabiso into the lion's den against Chambers at this stage of his career but I recognised a special talent in the boy and my decision has now been vindicated," said boxing promoter Damian Michael.
"He is now, in my book, South Africa's most exciting and hard-hitting boxing prospect."
The 24-year-old Mchunu came into prominence at the tail-end of last year when he pummelled all opposition into submission to annex victory in the "Super Eight" series of fights at Emperor's Palace.
Rated seventh by the WBC organisation, Mchunu has now extended his record to 14 victories with 10 knock-outs and only one defeat.
Michael said he had already been inundated with offers for Mchunu to fight again in the US.
"His immediate career is in America but he will be back in South Africa on Tuesday to continue training here before negotiations for his next fight in the United States are concluded," Michael said.
Chambers had campaigned in the heavyweight division for most of his career in which he has achieved 36 wins and three defeats.
However, after being thwarted of earning a heavyweight world title, his handlers reckoned he could best fulfil his ambition by moving down to the cruiserweight division.
The Mchunu fight was calculated as launching this objective for Chambers.
Instead, it has seemingly detonated the plan at the outset and launched Mchunu as an up-coming world-title contender.
Chambers, who had not fought for more than a year, looked decidedly sluggish against Mchunu in the early rounds and seemed unable to fathom the South African's southpaw style.
The American roared in frustration as Mchunu found the mark with a series of well-directed punches and improved in the later rounds of this non-title contest.
Mchunu looked unperturbed throughout the proceedings and was never seriously hurt throughout what emerged as a surprisingly one-sided 10 rounds of boxing.
