Super middleweight Ryno Liebenberg won bragging rights in his clash against Rowan Campbell, battering the previously-unbeaten fighter before ending matters in round 8 Sunday evening at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.

Liebenberg, who resides in Krugersdorp, improves to 21-7-1, 14 knockouts.

Sunday’s clash culminated in a running war of words between Liebenberg and Campbell that ran for several weeks. Promoter Rodney Berman decided to put the fight together, also to see if Campbell was ready to face the likes of Liebenberg, who has faced the likes of Eleider Alvarez, Thomas Oosthuizen, Erik Skoglund, Enrico Knelling and Vincent Feigenbutz. 

Liebenberg defeated Alex Kabanga by unanimous decision in his previous fight on March 15 of last year. Prior to the Liebenberg fight, Campbell had not fought since stopping Nicholas Radley in November 2019. 

From the opening bell, Liebenberg overwhelmed Campbell, forcing him to hold, which prompted referee Cyphrial Ndaba to deduct a point with about a minute left in the opening round. Campbell found himself in a bigger hole in round 2, as he was dropped to the canvas. A cut opened above his left eye from the punch.

Campbell rebounded well in round 3, but began to take punishing blows to the head and body from Liebenberg. Several right hands stunned Campbell in round 5, which resulted in a ringside physician taking a look at Campbell after the round ended, but allowed the fight to continue. 

It got worse for Campbell as his right eye was completely shut in round 6. The fight turned dirty as each fighter was deducted a point for butting with their head, Liebenberg in round 6 and Campbell in round 7. 

Liebenberg continued to batter Campbell. A barrage of punches in round 8 was enough for referee Cyphrial Ndaba to finally step in and stop the fight at 1:19. 

Campbell, who resides in nearby Johannesburg, drops to 12-1, 8 KOs. 

In the co-feature, junior Sabelo Ngebinyana of Cape Town defeated Ricardo Malajika by split decision. One judge scored the bout 77-74 for Malajika, while the other two judges scored the bout 77-74 for Ngebinyana, who improves to 13-4, 10 KOs. 

Ngebinyana dropped Malajika (7-1, 5 KOs) with a left hook to the body less than a minute left in the opening round. Ngebinyana’s effective aggression early on was key as Malajika was able to rally late in the fight, but had dug himself too deep a hole to get out of. 

Junior featherweight prospect Ludumo Lamati of Johannesburg improved to 17-0-1, 10 KOs by defeating Tanzania’s Said Mohamed Hassan (16-8-2, 12 KOs) by decision over eight one-sided rounds. All three judges scored the bout 80-72 for the 28-year-old Lamati.

The fight was a rematch of their June 2018 clash, which Lamati won by knockout in round 6 after Hassan suffered a shoulder injury and was not able to continue.

In a clash of hard-hitting junior middleweights, Shervontaigh Koopman (6-0, 5 KOs) stopped Junior Makondo (6-5, 6 KOs) at 2:36 of round 3. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.