Johannesburg (South Africa) – As the clock counts down towards 1 March an unprecedented amount of last minute changes have been made to the EFC AFRICA 18 fight card, with four athletes grasping the opportunity by stepping-up to fight on just a few days notice.

The following four athletes have been taken off the card and are no longer competing in the prelim bouts:

• Alex Cheboub – Injured with a torn intercostal muscle
• Hector Brits – Injured with a fractured ankle
• Kelvin Mwale – Medically not cleared to compete
• Raymond Ahana – A late replacement for the injured Ian Visser, EFC AFRICA is unable to arrange a visa in time for the Nigerian to travel and fight in South Africa

“Never before have we had so many last minute changes to a card,” said EFC AFRICA President Cairo Howarth. “We are very grateful to the four athletes that have taken this opportunity and are stepping-up to fight on such short notice.”

Johan van Staden, Tumelo Maphutha, David van Schalkwyk and Peter Nyide have taken the late chance to fight at Carnival City on Friday night:

Following are the updated four bouts:
Dallas Jakobi vs. Johan van Staden (lightweight)
David van Schalkwyk vs. Juan Lubbe (welterweight)
Tumelo Maphutha vs. Chris Du Pont (light heavyweight)
Peter Nyide vs. Frederich Naumann (lightweight)

“It has been a hectic 24 hours but I am very happy with the final outcome,” said EFC AFRICA Matchmaker Graeme Cartmell. “Johan, David, Tumelo and Peter are all quality athletes and I’m looking forward to all of these fights.”

EFC AFRICA 18, presented by MusclePharm, takes place at the Carnival City Big Top Arena on 1 March 2013. Tickets on sale at Computicket www.computicket.com and tickets for the live broadcast to Nu Metro Cinemas available at www.numetro.com.

Broadcast information and full fight card available at efcafrica.com