ZOLANI Petelo, looking more muscular than usual, scored an impressive powerhouse victory over a very game Mickey Cantwell in Kent on Friday night. He thereby retained his IBF straw-weight world title for the fifth time. Cantwell made it clear from the opening bell that he had come to fight, unlike his compatriot Peter Culshaw who last week ran away from Baby Jake Matlala to retain his WBU flyweight world title in South Africa. Cantwell took the first round, using his left jab to good effect. From the second however, he chose to mix it with Petelo, but the champion’s superior punching power made all the difference. Although Cantwell did get through Petelo’s defence on numerous occasions, his punches had little effect on the champion. Petelo, who attacked Cantwell’s body throughout, had him in trouble on the ropes in the fourth round, but gutsy challenger came back strongly in the fifth, putting everything into a valiant attempt of upsetting the title holder. Petelo kept his composure however and dished out a number of vicious body and head shots. After taking another beating on the ropes in the seventh round, Cantwell went down. He rose to his feet and displayed tremendous courage in fighting back. In the eighth round all Cantwell had left was a fighting heart. When Petelo caught him on the ropes again, the referee stepped and stopped the bout. Petelo’s trainer manager Mzi Mnguni confirmed after the fight that Petelo would be looking to move up a weight division and to challenge Ricardo Lopez for the IBF junior flyweight world title.