<figure class="is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-1 wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51362" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51362" class="wp-image-51362" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-2-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, 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srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-9-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-9-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-9-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-9-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-9-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51370" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51370" class="wp-image-51370" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-10-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption"> </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51371" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51371" class="wp-image-51371" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-11-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption"> </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51372" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51372" class="wp-image-51372" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-12-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="51373" data-full-url="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=51373" class="wp-image-51373" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fight-With-Insight-13-of-13-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li></ul><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption">Young boxers participate in activities at a new Fight With Insight boxing gym, launched on Youth Day at Hillbrow in Johannesburg, South Africa, with founder Luke Lamprecht, the gyms assist in training and feeding inner-city youth in Johannesburg; photographs by Yeshiel Panchia</figcaption></figure>



Today marks 45 years of the Soweto Uprising in South Africa, when thousands of unhappy schoolchildren challenging an apartheid regime fearlessly took to the streets protesting being taught in Afrikaans. June 16 1976 ended in fire, fear and tears. Commemorated as Youth Day in South Africa, FORBES AFRICA captures the rousing emotions of today, but in a boxing ring in inner city Johannesburg, where the youth now bond over sport as part of a broader upliftment program.



June 16 is a hallowed day in South African history, observed as Youth Day commemorating the student uprising of 1976 in Soweto which saw students lead demonstrations against an education system that would eventually lead to menial jobs. Some 20,000 students partook in what was to be a peaceful protest, but when the day was over, at least 176 had been killed by the bullets and brutality of apartheid. The children laid down their lives but it marked a new chapter in South Africa’s liberation struggle.



Across South Africa today are events marking the memory of that fateful day, and FORBES AFRICA joined one such occasion of hope and healing in Hillbrow, a residential neighborhood in Johannesburg, for the opening of a third gym for inner-city youth by Fight With Insight, a youth empowerment initiative directed by Luke Lamprecht, a child protection and development specialist.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Children have had dreams put on hold or broken altogether; schooling has been disrupted; families separated; and food and social security systems taken away from them.”</blockquote>



Lamprecht founded the first such gym in Johannesburg in 2006, and chose Youth Day this year to mark the opening of his latest outlet, offering daily training to aspiring boxers as also supplying healthy meals to them. “2020 has been a bad year to be a child,” says Lamprecht to FORBES AFRICA, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic that put the brakes on the social and psychological development of young children, and dried up the support networks and sustenance that many of them depended on to lead normal lives.



“Children have had dreams put on hold or broken altogether; schooling has been disrupted; families separated; and food and social security systems taken away from them.”



His initiative aims to meet some of these deficiencies, offering camaraderie, exercise, food and above all, belief and purpose to children in need. The advocacy aspect is not new to the personnel at Fight With Insight, as they have provided training and food even within Covid-19 lockdown restrictions all of last year. At their height, they served 1.4 tonnes of food a day. However, this June 16 marks an easier time than the last, with children ending training before their meal by breaking a paper chain – symbolizing breaking free of the challenges and restrictions that hold them back.



Many of the urban youth at the center say they find both their physical and emotional sustenance inside the ring. They are in it to win this perennial fight called life.

Fight With Insight (2 of 13)

Youth Day Photo Essay: Gloves On For The Big Fight Called Life

The showdown between the biggest stars in boxing and UFC is less than a month away and tickets are still not on sale. That changes today with tickets for <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/floyd-mayweather/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Floyd Mayweather</a> versus <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/conor-mcgregor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Conor McGregor</a> available at 1 ET at <a href="https://www1.ticketmaster.com/event/2E0052EAE9372152" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tickmaster.com</a> or on site at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Tickets for the August 26 bout range from $500 to $10,000 with additional fees applied at checkout. Other tickets cost $1,500, $2,500, $3,500, $5,000 and $7,500. There is a limit of two tickets per household.
The arena, which opened last year, holds 20,000 for boxing. The get-in price is less expensive than the 2015 Mayweather-<a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/manny-pacquiao/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Manny Pacquiao</a> bout where the cheapest list price was $1,500 at the 16,800-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena. Only 500 tickets were released to the public in that fight with the rest doled out to promoters and others involved with the bout.
While tickets have yet to hit the market for Mayweather-McGregor, you can already bid on them on the secondary market. Ticket reseller TicketIQ has more than 400 tickets available as of Monday morning at prices <a href="https://www.tiqiq.com/fight/conor-mcgregor-tickets/conor-mcgregor-vs-floyd-mayweather-jr--08-26-2017/4035147264396?publisherid=1605756&amp;utm_campaign=maymc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">starting at $3,000</a> for nosebleed seats, and they range as high as $24,000 for ringside ones.
The Mayweather-McGregor fight promises to be one of the biggest financial bonanzas in the history of sports, on par with a Super Bowl or the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, which <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2015/06/10/mayweather-and-pacquiao-produce-the-first-600-million-night-in-the-history-of-sports/#5ef3951e21af" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">generated $600 million</a> in revenue. The pay-per-view audience will ultimately determine how big a cash cow the night is. The fight is priced at $100 for the high-definition PPV feed ($90 in standard def) and Las Vegas is currently taking over-under bets on <a href="https://sports.bovada.lv/boxing/floyd-mayweather-conor-mcgregor/floyd-mayweather-jr-conor-mcgregor-201708262300" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4.99 million PPV buys</a>. Mayweather-Pacquiao had 4.6 million buys.
Both fighters will make a killing on the bout. McGregor is set to earn at least $75 million, which would be five times any payday he had at UFC. Mayweather has made a career of big paydays befitting a fighter nicknamed &#8220;Money.&#8221; He earned roughly $250 million for his unanimous decision over Pacquiao. Another payout along those lines would push his <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2017/07/13/floyd-mayweather-career-earnings-could-hit-1-billion-with-mcgregor-fight/#28d319df17d2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">career earnings to $1 billion</a>. Mayweather would be just the third athlete to earn $1 billion from his sporting career after Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.
Mayweather was the highest-paid athlete three times over a four-year span before his &#8220;retirement&#8221; in 2015. The McGregor fight is sure to put him back on top again. &#8211; Written by Kurt Badenhausen, FORBES STAFF
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<div class="vestpocket"></div>

Mayweather Vs. McGregor Tickets On Sale Today Priced At Up To $10,000

American boxing manager, Peter Kahn, has been busy trying to find a big-name opponent for his South African boxer to fight on home soil. On July 2, the Miami-based promoter will be in Brisbane, Australia, to solicit a fight with the winner of the bout between Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn.
His boxer, Chris van Heerden, born in Johannesburg and fighting out of Santa Monica, California, was convinced the fight against the Filipino Pacquiao, planned for November, was on the cards after his camp approached the office of the former minister of sports, Fikile Mbalula, late last year. But since Mbalula is no longer sports minister, things have been sketchy.
Boxing South Africa (BSA), the sport’s national body, says it is open to the fight but needs Kahn to make the first step.
“My advice will be for contact to be made with the [sport] department so that they can advise with authority on this issue,” says BSA Chief Executive Officer, Tsholofelo Lejaka. “Boxing SA remains open and willing to discuss with any role-player who seek to develop or promote our sport of boxing. From a Boxing Regulations point of view, one needs a minimum of 31 days to host a boxing tournament.”
In a telephone interview, Kahn, says he is still determined to bring one of the biggest fights in the African history to the FNB stadium in Johannesburg. He says a big fight can be organized provided the government can cover the estimated $25 million purse. The country had last hosted big names 17 years ago in the Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman bout. Lewis lost his world heavyweight title in a shock in Brakpan, Johannesburg.
“Unless South Africa is willing to work with Chris, like other countries do with their boxers, it is not going to happen, but we would like to bring Chris home,” says Kahn.
“It’s not an idea anymore; it’s been thrown to us by the world boxing promoter Bob Arum. It can be like the old days when Muhammad Ali fought in the Rumble in the Jungle. All we need is the South African government to support us. You’ve gotta put in money to make money,” says Van Heerden, popularly known as The Heat.
<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2015/04/01/women-should-not-be-boxing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Women Should Not Be Boxing</a>
FORBES AFRICA met Van Heerden, the former IBO welterweight title holder and current WBA Pan-African champion, in May when he returned to Johannesburg for the funeral of the colorful boxing promoter Nick Durandt who died in a freak motorbike accident at the age of 53.
“I met Nick when I was 14 years old, I turned pro with Nick when I was 18, he guided me to South African and Africa titles (16 unbeaten). He was part of my life, I would talk to him on a few occasions, he was a big supporter of mine. That’s the reason I came, to give my last respect to the icon in boxing,” says Van Heerden.
“I was a scared little boy, I didn’t wanna fight my brother, but my dad was a former professional fighter, he forced me to do it and ever since then I fell in love with it,” he says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2017/06/03/farewell-man-called-mayweather-coward/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Farewell The Man Who Called Mayweather A Coward</a>
At the age of 18, in June 2011, Van Heerden won the International Boxing Organization (IBO) welterweight title eliminator against Bongani Mwelase, a 2006 Commonwealth Games champion, by unanimous decision at Emperors Palace. In 2012, he fought Kaizer Mabuza for the IBO world title and defended it against Argentinian Sebastian Andres Lujan in the same year.
At 27, Van Heerden realized he was nowhere near where he wanted to be, hence he set-off for the country where he knew no one. He lamented the lack of support and his dream of becoming something in the world of boxing was dying.
“I told my dad I need to go. The sport was dying in South Africa because the support wasn’t good enough. And at the same time I asked myself ‘who are the kids going to look up to?’ I said they had no one. I didn’t have kids and wasn’t married, I had nothing to hold me back here, my dreams are bigger. I want to represent my country,” says Van Heerden.
On Christmas Day 2013, Van Heerden was on a flight bound for Los Angeles to meet the late promoter Michael King. This was after a few telephone conversations with the media magnate who co-owned King World Productions and founded Michael King Worldwide. King died in 2015.
“They only told me ‘come to the States, we will look after you’. I went to the States knowing no one there but I focused on training and seven months later the legendary Freddie Roach gave me a phone call to come to his gym to assist Miguel Cotto as he prepared to fight against Sergio Martinez (in June 2014),” he says.
Van Heerden had to impress Roach, the famous trainer who once coached Pacqiuoa, to earn his American debut.
“I knew I had to shine. It was the best three minutes that I ever invested. Freddie saw something and said ‘kid, I want you’. The sparrings I have received against the likes of Cotto and Canelo Alvarez boosted my self-confidence,” he says.
One thing led to another for Van Heerden. He moved around American gyms training with renowned boxers.
“At the last sparring of Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya walked into the gym and saw me working with Cotto, so he asked me if he could fly me to San Diego and work with Alvarez,” he says.
A few days later Van Heerden landed in San Diego where he was a sparring partner to Alvarez for six weeks.
In September 2015, Roach guided Van Heerden to a win against Cecil McCalla in Madison Square Garden. He became the first South African to fight for a title in the venue since 1959, when Willie Toweel, from Johannesburg, took to the ring. In that fight, Toweel was knocked down twice in the eighth round, but he managed to fight back and beat the American Len Matthews on points.
“I won a title in Madison Square Garden but South Africa didn’t back me, it wasn’t broadcast back home. But I was there to make my country proud,” says Van Heerden.
It wasn’t all easy going for Van Heerden in America. He is still licking his wounds after losing to American sensation Errol Spence Jr, in what he considers the biggest fight of his career, in 2015.
“I should have never taken that fight because I was not mentally prepared for it. Family, management, Freddie Roach never showed up because he was sick. I should have never fought in that fight, I should have pulled out but I was never gonna pull out because of pride. I wanted to make my country proud. For the first times in 10 years, I lost. (Spence Jr) is now guided by Floyd Mayweather and he’s probably the best fighter in the world,” he says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/sport/2017/02/01/schoolboy-teaches-boxers-lesson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Schoolboy Who Teaches Boxers A Lesson</a>
Despite managing to pull off two wins, after losing to Spence Jr, Van Heerden is still hurting inside and can’t stop expressing disappointment in himself.
“People wrote me off in boxing. That’s a sad thing about boxing. When you win people love you, but you lose once, they write you off. They are like ‘he is done’. But I lost to a superstar,” he says.
Last year, he pulled off two wins – the last opponent was Namibian Sacky Shikukutu in front of his home crowd at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg. Van Heerden walked away with the WBA Pan-African title and is currently ranked number 10 in the world.
The 29-year-old believes he deserves a shot against the 38-year-old Pacquiao. But, the same money problems that forced Van Heerden out South African could knock out his dream.

A Dream That Floats Like a Butterfly And Stings Like $25 Million

Africa mourned the death of one of its leading boxing trainers, Nick Durandt, who produced an extraordinary 95 South African champions, in 17 weight divisions, and 38 world champions through the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, WBF and IBO organizations.
The champions Durandt guided spanned generations; from Gerrie Coetzee, Brian Mitchell, Sugar Boy Malinga, Phillip Ndou, Cassius Baloyi, to Moruti Mthalane. Durandt took pride in turning ghetto boys, with few prospects, into world champs.
In April, the 53-year-old Durandt died in hospital in Bethlehem, in South Africa’s Free State province, after a motorbike accident. He was the president of Crusaders Bike Club at the time.
Durandt, who was recognizable by his blonde locks flowing out of a black beanie or bandana, was born on Boxing Day in 1963, in Wolverhampton, England. His South African father, Cliff Durandt, was a professional footballer, in South Africa and player for Wolverhampton Wanderers in England. Durandt, before he immersed himself in boxing, played football for the University of the Witwatersrand under-21s, coached by the late full-back Eddie Lewis.
“Many people talk about things larger than life, really to me Nick Durandt was larger than boxing. He produced so many champions that no one can compare [to him] in this country&#8230; He has done it all,” says Peter Leopeng, a boxing analyst and commentator.
The uncompromising Durandt was a tough negotiator who always put the best interests of his fighters first. Mthalane pulled out of the mandatory title defence against Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng and relinquished his IBF flyweight title after Durandt refused the R60,000 ($4,400) purse.  He later negotiated a R1–million ($75,000) sum in Durban.
<div id="attachment_31463" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31463" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-31463 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Farewell The Man Who Called Mayweather A Coward</div>
“Nick fought against any promoter who thought he could swindle his boxers out of the purse, that’s why he was unpopular. For a long time he didn’t get along with Rodney Berman for that same reason. He was passionate about making sure he got sponsorship and endorsement for his charges. All his boxers were dressed up in Kappa gear,” says Leopeng.
Durandt’s colorful lifestyle and relentless pursuit of improving life for his boxers made him popular outside the ring as well. Before his untimely death, he fought tirelessly with national broadcaster SABC to televise boxing. He was also a fervent critic of former sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, whom he accused of forsaking the dying sport. When Mbalula brought Floyd Mayweather to South Africa in 2012, in what they called ‘The Reawakening of the Giant’, to revive boxing, Durandt refused to endorse the project and likened it to a tour for Mayweather to view African animals and the picturesque Table Mountain.
When FORBES AFRICA interviewed Durandt in 2014, he pulled no punches.
“In order to build more and more superstars, the television coverage is very important. People need to see the fighters live when they fight. Can you imagine; I arrive at the OR Tambo International Airport with the world champion and the people don’t know or don’t recognize him,” he said.
Leopeng had his own embarrassing encounter with angry Durandt in 2003. A high-spirited Durandt flew his African champion Ndou to the US to fight Mayweather. Days before the fight in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Durandt referred to Mayweather as a coward and promised his fans a knockout.
“Mayweather retorted that he would fight like a crocodile, he would take Ndou to the deep waters and see if he can swim out of the river. Durandt said that Ndou could swim breaststroke and backstroke. Mayweather pulverized and knocked out Ndou in the seventh round. Now back in South Africa, in a radio interview, I asked Durandt which stroke Ndou was doing while lying on the ground. Durandt swore at me and never spoke to me for six months,” recalls Leopeng.
Another memorable fight – billed as ‘Thunder in Africa’ – was between unheralded American Hasim Rahman and England’s WBC, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis at Carnival City, in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg, in 2001. Durandt was in Rahman’s corner when he knocked out Lewis in round five.
Although well-known for his bad temper, controversial character and tattoos, Durandt was a family man who was inseparable from his sons. When he retired in May 2016, he handed over the two gyms to his first born Damian, 26, whom he groomed from the age of 14. He also owned a tattoo shop across the road from his gyms.
To go with the many awards Durandt won as a trainer and manager in almost three decades in boxing, in January he received a Lifetime Achievement award from Boxing South Africa.
Durandt, known as Mthakathi, Zulu for wizard, will go down in history as the first trainer to be red carded for insulting the referee in Nasrec, Johannesburg. Boxing is duller without him.

IMG_0475

Farewell The Man Who Called Mayweather A Coward

In the tiny dining room of a dimly-lit home in Alexandra, Johannesburg’s oldest township, the only child of Davidson Moyo would sit transfixed on her father’s lap, usually in the wee hours of the morning, watching grainy images of boxing matches on the family’s small television screen. Those were the moments when the father, a big fan of the sport, and his daughter, Promise Moyo, bonded most.
“People said I should have been a boy because I was with my dad every time and everywhere,” says Promise, who is today one of two female boxing promoters in South Africa.
“But obviously at that age, I never thought I would work in boxing. Funny enough, when I was older and working, I would rather watch a boxing match than go out partying. I would go just about everywhere for boxing, be it Carousel [a hotel] or Carnival City [a casino]. It has been always like that.”
Promise does not fit the popular – and rather unfair – perception of a woman in boxing. For this feature’s photoshoot, she showed up in an elegant silk black blouse with matching pants and stilettos. On her left arm, she sports a small tattoo of a rose. Her immaculate red painted nails matched the color of her lips.
Promise’s other avatar is as an entrepreneur running a beauty parlor, the KP Salon in Wynberg, an industrial area north of Johannesburg. There is more to her career graph.
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Prior to turning both boxing promoter and salon entrepreneur, Promise worked as a civil servant for 15 years for the City of Johannesburg, starting as a reception clerk and working her way up to become deputy director. In April 2012, three months before her employment was to be reviewed – she had no doubt her five-year contract would be extended owing to her success at work – Promise injured her back, falling down the stairs at her workplace.
The accident resulted in her being hospitalized for a week, and she had to take a month off work. While Promise was recovering at home with only two weeks left to resume work, her employers served her with a letter telling her, to her shock, they were not renewing her contract.
Promise was shattered and depressed; she couldn’t look for another job for months as a result. The only silver lining was that a few days before she had received the disheartening news, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where she was studying for a post-graduate degree in private management finance, informed her she had passed the course.
Fortunately, during her tenure with the City of Johannesburg, Promise had also opened her salon. It was when she lost her permanent government job that she decided to fall back on her childhood passion – boxing.
“My dad played a major role in influencing and encouraging my interest in boxing,” says Promise.
But it took years and several bouts of disappointment to realize her dream.
“I didn’t know I would end up in boxing. All I knew is I loved the sport passionately, I would be going up and down to fights. But if you were to ask me anything about boxing, I was on point, I knew what was happening where and how many knockouts a certain boxer had. Being a young woman, people just couldn’t understand ‘why boxing’. Some raised concerns that I would turn out a violent person. That’s a lack of understanding. Boxing is a gentleman’s sport. If you are a boxer, you are the most disciplined athlete. Those are the things we need to continuously educate the people [about],” says Promise.
Promise spent months researching boxing promotion and by the end of 2012 was registered with Boxing South Africa. This was entering a terrain with few women officials, except for referees. Mbali Zantsi, South Africa’s first female boxing promoter, was licenced in 2003, two years after women’s boxing was officially established. In 2011, Ntambi Ravele was appointed chairperson of Boxing South Africa. She replaced a former Minister of Sports, Ngconde Balfour.
A future for women in boxing seemed impossible but Promise held her own.
“My family tried to persuade me to reconsider my decision and look for other business opportunities. They reminded me I have the necessary qualifications and experience to work at any municipality in the country. But it was only my pastor who understood and encouraged me to pursue my dream.”
It was a long and arduous journey for Promise as she faced umpteen rejections from potential funders.
“There were times where I would put up a proposal and a person would look at it and say ‘this looks good but I don’t think boxing is something I can fund’. Quite a few people turned me down. They would say to me I could choose anything else but not boxing. They thought I was wasting my time because no one would take me seriously with my boxing project. They would ask why not [start a] catering business.”
By January 2013, Promise had registered her company Skylon Promotions which signed a veteran boxer and former South African WBA and international WBC junior lightweight champion, Phillip Ndou, as its first boxer. Ndou, in his zenith, had fought and lost to Floyd Mayweather, a recently-retired world champion with a record 49 undefeated fights.
“When my licence was due to be issued, I went to see Phillip Ndou in his gym in Hillbrow and there were many others I approached. I think that was a wise thing to do because I heard boxers’ issues, their limitations, their frustrations. Those were good boxers with good records but they were not happy,” says Promise.
When Promise met Ndou, he had not fought for almost two years, but in six months, he fought against Pius Dipheko, a South African. Ndou won with a knock out.
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On August 9, Women’s Day in South Africa, Skylon Promotions hosted an international event at Thohoyandou, in Limpopo province. This was a homecoming for Ndou who had never fought in front of his community since turning professional in 1996. Ndou fought a young Tanzanian, Ramadhani Shauri, and won by knock out.
Margaret Nemukula, Ndou’s mother, was there to see her son fighting for the first time at home.
“Here is the man with forty fights but he never fought in front of his people. His mother couldn’t believe it was really happening since there had been many speculations that Phillip is fighting at home but those ended up in disappointments,” says Promise.
She did not only realize Ndou had similar traits to hers, Ndou was among her favorite boxers in the early 1990s. Ndou, aged 38, is the only man standing among those pugilists.
“Despite his tribulations, Phillip was at the gym for over a year without fail and yet there were no fights forthcoming. I knew he was the perfect dream team partner.”
A week after the fight in Thohoyandou, Shauri became a Skylon Promotions signee and was due to have his first overseas fight in October in the United States. Lulu Kayage, a Tanzanian female boxer, is also with Skylon Promotions. Mimi Bwanamoya of the Congo who lives in South Africa, is the recent woman signee in the stable.
The sport around the world is administered by men of questionable ethics, but Promise says she wants to keep her business clean.
“Bwanamoya recently approached me, but I had to check if she’s clear from any contractual agreement with another manager. I don’t want to step onto people’s toes, I am for clean business. Also being a woman I have to lead by example, I have to give opportunities to sportswomen.”
Petite Promise is a 21st century African woman who knows her place is not limited to the salon; she’s the one calling the shots in a boxing ring.

boxing-021

Trading Punches In A Male Bastion

In the ring he stands out like his dyed blond hair; cocky, yet mature beyond his years, with punches like heavy artillery.
Azinga Fuzile is a grade 11 pupil from Duncan Village, a rough shanty town known as the cradle of boxing, near East London in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. In his corner is his canny trainer, Mzamo ‘Chief’ Njekanye.
“I wouldn’t have done it without Chief, I am very thankful to him. He is able to guide me in everything that is happening,” says Fuzile. His experience contrasts his age; he christened the boxing gloves in 2006 as a 10-year-old and fought 300 times as an amateur.
“I participated in trials and would fight three fights in one day, that’s why I had so many fights,” he says.
“I lost some fights but they were very few.”
In 2014, he captained his country at the Junior Olympics in Scotland, at the age of 17. The same year, he knocked out an opponent in the third round of the final to win gold at the African Youth Championships, in Gaborone, Botswana – the first South African to do so.
His short life is full of milestones; he won his first major professional title in September 2016 beating veteran brawler Macbute Sinyabi with a unanimous decision to be crowned the South African featherweight champion in merely his fifth professional fight. In doing so, he drew comparison with legendary South African Vic Toweel – also an early starter – who went on to become the South African bantamweight champion in his fourth fight and boxed on to a world title championship, at the age of 22, in 1950.
“People who need to speak about the South African championship are people behind us, me and my boy are looking at the international route,” said Njekanye after the surprise win against Sinyabi.
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“I see myself as a world champion, that is what I am looking at; I do have the ability to achieve it,” said Fuzile.
Njekanye believes the nickname ‘Golden Boy’ is more of a prophecy.
“I saw that this is something, I saw his direction, was I lying when I said this boy is a golden boy? The whole country can see that Chief was right, a lot of people just knew about him, I have been building him for years,” says Njekanye.
His ambition of winning a world title came sooner than expected.
Fight fans scratched their heads when it was announced that little known Georgian, Giorgi Gochisvili, was to face Fuzile for the WBC youth featherweight title in Mdantsane, in the Eastern Cape.
“We were preparing for someone we didn’t know, we even failed looking for information on him because we got the wrong name. The day before the fight we got the correct information and watched his videos on YouTube,” says Njekanye.
Fuzile won his first world title, three months after his triumph against Sinyabi, beating Gochisvili to a pulp in the first round. Doctors rushed Gochisvili to hospital to repair the damage of a left to the liver.
“I didn’t care who I was fighting, it did not matter. All I knew is that I was going to beat this guy, I didn’t even know his style,” says Fuzile.
A lot of the preparation for the fight was spent in class. Fuzile is studying grade 11 at Kusile Comprehensive High School in Duncan Village.
“We were working under difficult conditions; we had a challenge of the gym and examination papers in between the dates, we had to understand each other. For me, your education and career are parallel, you can’t undermine the boy’s career,” says Njekanye.
“I was able to manage, when you don’t have any things distracting you in life then it is easy to manage everything,” says Fuzile.
With the exploits of the Golden Boy comes the pain of loss for trainer Njekanye. In 2016, Njekanye’s product Xolisani ‘Nomeva’ Ndongeni, a successful South African world champion boxer, left his gym to join Colin Nathan in Johannesburg, under prominent Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves Promotions. A troubled Njekanye sees this as poaching.
“These boys are being fooled by these guys from Johannesburg. It is all because of greed, most of the boxers have gone to Gauteng and most of them have returned with bare hands,” he says.
“You can make a life out of boxing, they always believe by going to people like Colin Nathan he will give them money, they don’t know those people see a business when they see them. Even my boy Azinga, they want him, that’s what you can say about these boxers, they have gone and come back with nothing.”
“You need to remember people like Nomeva Ndongeni came from my hands; I took him from the streets, before Fuzile everyone was talking about Nomeva,” says Njekanye.
The trainer takes responsibility for all his precious prodigies.
“These boys come from an unfortunate background. Without me, Duncan wouldn’t be producing these boys, tell me who else is doing what I am doing to these lads. This is the second world champion to come out of these hands. I have done this thing voluntarily; there was never any contribution,” he says.
The Golden Boy’s impressive career is set to continue in February. Njekanye confirms that a fight, that could be international, is on the cards.
As for Fuzile, he is training and waiting for his examination results so he can qualify for his final year at school. He hopes to pass with flying colors in both ring and classroom this year.

The Schoolboy  Who Teaches Boxers  A Lesson

With bright lights shining and the crowd baying for his blood, Rofhiwa ‘War Child’ Maemu must have been hungry as he prepared to throw the first punch. He wanted to win so badly, he starved himself for two days to make his weight for this World Boxing Federation International featherweight title fight in Bloemfontein – a city that didn’t want him.
The bell rings and Maemu goes in for the kill. He’s quick, cautious and has amazing footwork but his first punches miss. Maemu is too quick for his rusty, but composed, opponent, Tello ‘King Razor’ Dithebe, who had not had a fight for four years. Maemu starts each round with quick footwork and aggression. In the eighth round, the tables turn. Dithebe gains momentum and cuts Maemu above his left eye. A few powerful punches by Dithebe in the last two rounds dashed Maemu’s title hopes. Dithebe wins his first title with a split decision; Maemu walks through the dark tunnel to the dressing room disappointed and alone.
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“I feel good, for me a loss is nothing… I will come back stronger and be a champion,” says Maemu after the fight.
In the downcast dressing room, trainer Alan Toweel is optimistic with a tinge of sadness.
“There’s a lot of work to be done but I’ll bring you back slowly; it’s only a matter of practise, practise and more practise,” he says to his fighter.
“I really thought you won that match but that’s boxing for you, it’s a tough sport,” says Toweel.
Maemu knows how tough training is; four weeks earlier he was hard as nails. He runs a 23-kilometer round trip from the dusty streets of Soweto to the suburbs of Linden, in Johannesburg to the Toweel gym.
“He is very lucky, he’s got natural fitness, he’s got natural stamina, he thinks like the old-school fighters, a lot of them used to walk or run to the gym,” says Toweel.
His life has taken heavy punches, so bruising that he took his own ring name. One night he was watching a documentary, War Child, about a hip-hop star who returns to Sudan where he served as a child soldier.
“That war story seemed as if they were referring to me, how I grew up,” he says.
Punishment from his father was just part of it.
“When I grew up I didn’t love running. When I was 12 my dad used to punish me by making me run for 12 kilometers. Whenever I did something wrong, he would give me shorts and say ‘Okay lets go, we’re running’. I would feel my feet are sore and I would be crying but I got used to it,” says Maemu.
Having been brought up in a struggling family, he believes his past could never stand in the way of his future.
“My family is one of those families that are trying. Even at school, I didn’t go further, I ended in grade 12. Even though I didn’t go further with schooling; I still have that heart of a lion to go further with whatever I do.”
His partnership with Toweel is a second chance for Maemu to repair his past tainted with greed, betrayal and hustle.
“For me, each and every time they told me about fights, I would go just go for it because I knew I am going to get paid. For me, it wasn’t about boxing, it was about money. I never had an income back then so when you’re boxing, the purse tend to become exciting sometimes,” says Maemu.
He would receive R7,000 (around $500) for a fight. While sitting on the couch instead of training, he would accept the offer without hesitation.
“I would take any fight even though the divisions were not my divisions, I’d just go. In boxing, divisions speak a lot; you don’t have to get at any division,” says Maemu.
“I think the future looks very bright for Maemu whose career almost ended before it started due to being involved in wrong fights. A good trainer will make appropriate decisions that will see the career of a fighter taking shape by choosing right fights. I think Toweel has done that well. Toweel just needs to add to what Maemu [has] and not to change him to something he is not. A trainer must adapt to a boxer’s style and not vice versa. Once they get that right, then they will be home and dry,” says veteran sport journalist, Bongani Magasela.
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His loss to Dithebe may have been a bolt from the blue to many but Maemu is still optimistic about facing South African featherweight Azinga Fuzile, who beat Macbute Sinyabi for the title.
“Azinga is a good boy but Macbute is finished. The last person who I know who won a title after four fights is my uncle Vic. We will put on a fight for the South African title, that’s for sure,” says Toweel, before the fight in Bloemfontein.
Despite the loss, Toweel is still singing the same tune, he wants Fuzile. Maemu dropped from second to sixth in the South African boxing rankings and will have to climb up to be a contender at the top again.
“Theres a lot of room for improvement and I am willing to work with him,” says Toweel.

The Who Lost  The Battle

On a rainy day in East London, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, boxing legend Vuyani Bungu is at the Downtown Boxing Gym. Always wearing a charismatic smile on his face, he looks around the walls covered with pictures of local boxing greats; he spots a photo of himself posing with his entourage, holding a trophy. Bungu looks long and hard and says “the good old days”.
The contrast is as bleak as this winter’s day. Bungu’s best day was 16 years ago on a spring day in London. Bright lights shone that night and over 10,000 Londoners were cheering, some jeering, inside the Olympia London. With all the pre-match hype, viewers were glued to their screens around the world. “Viva Bungu Viva!” praised traditional poet Zolani Mkiva, who had flown in from the Eastern Cape as Bungu entered the ring after a year and a half on the sidelines. Outside the ring, Londoners greeted him with hostility.
In the blink of an eye the atmosphere came to life; Londoners shouted “Naseem! Naseem!” as the defending champion ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed hovered over the crowd on a leopard-print magic carpet on wires. He was welcomed by Puff Daddy, as the hip hop artist was then known, as he landed ringside; that’s as cool as it gets. The bell rang, Bungu fought with his famous slouch stance connecting with infrequent punches that were no match for Hamed’s reflexes. A powerful left jab from Hamed sent Bungu to the canvas and referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight in the fourth round. Bungu’s eight-year unbeaten run was over.
“Naseem caught me, never in the history of my boxing career had I been knocked out and not known where I was,” says Bungu.
For Bungu the fight was a painful end to a painful dance with his promoter as he reached the peak of his career.
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“I sat for a year and a half not getting fights, you know promoters work in different ways, and then I got a chance to fight Paul Ingle for the IBF featherweight title in 2000,” he says.
While preparing for a fight with Ingle, his promoter Rodney Berman had negotiations with Hamed’s camp for a fight. Hamed’s representatives agreed, and replaced Ingle with their fighter.
“There was talk of fighting Naseem while I was still active, bear in mind in 2000 I was getting old and spent a year and a half not fighting. I got the fight; they fired my trainer and said he was drinking a lot,” says Bungu. “I knew very well the reason behind that but unfortunately I cannot dwell on it. I don’t want to go deep but it was not because he was drinking. Sometimes, these days, people sue you.”
Bungu says he wasn’t measured for the kit he wore for the Hamed fight. He kept quiet even as he couldn’t wear a protector because it didn’t fit his tight pants.
“That fight turned me off. I just went there because everything was already done,” says Bungu.
“Things went bad after the Naseem fight, you know when you come from a poor background like mine, in those particular years, I knew nothing about tax and the taxman caught me. I nearly lost everything. That’s when my marriage started to break. Tax caught me and took everything,” says Bungu.
Manager and trainer Mzimasi ‘Bra Mzi’ Mnguni had been with Bungu all his fighting life. He was at the iconic Sisa Dukashe stadium in Bungu’s hometown of Mdantsane when the boxer got his first professional fight and was nicknamed ‘The Beast’ by the crowd after they were reminded of the powerful punches of Ugandan John Mugabi who went by the same moniker.
With affection and respect, Bungu frequently refers to his mentor as ‘Bra Mzi’. However, Bungu was disappointed by Mnguni’s handling of his finances. Mnguni signed the deals while Bungu focused on his punches.
“When you don’t know something, and the people who are supposed to be telling you something are not willing to tell you, you feel like you are alone in a cage, they just leave you there. Though I don’t blame anyone, life goes on. I felt betrayed by them anyway,” says Bungu.
He never argued with the money that was put on his table after a fight. Bungu, with a record 13 IBF super bantamweight title defences, was never present during negotiations for a match. According to reports, he owed the taxman R900,000 ($67,000). Although he paid an accountant R20,000 ($1,500) to get him out of trouble, he was alone.
“People thought I was making millions, I never saw a million in my career. From my defences, if I can tell you I had R500,000 in my pocket I would be lying to you. That’s how boxing is, that’s the bad side of boxing.”
“After a fight, I would have R400,000, then deductions poured in, I was left with R200,000. Then you would hear sayings that there were no sponsors for a fight and all that, there were lot of excuses and I could not argue with them because it’s an area that I don’t know,” says Bungu.
Mnguni, however, says he always tried to get the best deal for Bungu.
“I paid [my fighters] according to the rates of South Africa, but once they got to international stages, I didn’t promote them. The only thing I did was negotiate on their behalf. I believe I tried to get the best for them,” says Mnguni.
In the gym, Bungu throws a few punches in the air and immediately catches his breath. Still wearing his charismatic smile, he gazes into the distance.
It all started in 1992 when stablemate and friend, Welcome Ncita, lost his IBF world title to American Kennedy McKinney and lost again in a rematch in 1994 in Texas. While in Texas, Ncita and Bungu, who was campaigning for fights abroad, were introduced to McKinney by their trainer. To Bungu’s astonishment, McKinney was helplessly drunk.
“I had a small prayer to myself and said, you know what God, we’re poor in South Africa, we can’t fall prey to someone who is wasting his talent, if one day I could get a chance to fight this guy, I would beat him,” recalls Bungu.
Four months later, Bungu received international recognition when he beat McKinney with a unanimous decision to win the international bantamweight title. The match was described by The Ring magazine as “the upset of the year”. Bungu received a call from South Africa’s newly-elected democratic president Nelson Mandela to mark the fact that he was the first boxing champion of a free South Africa.
“He wanted to see me, I couldn’t believe it. He said I am an asset of this country, that’s why I went on defending the title for this country 13 times,” says Bungu.
It all fell apart after the fight with Hamed in London. The next two years were spent without a fight, he divorced, and was in financial arrears; the beast was on its knees. Bungu’s last fight was in 2005 against Thomas Mashaba, in a tournament staged by Mnguni. He lost on points and decided it was a cue for him to bow out.
“I knew very well they were kicking me out of boxing, for me that was it. It was hard quitting because the people who you thought had your back weren’t on your side anymore. [My] manager and promoter just turned their back on me,” says Bungu.
Ncita was welcomed by scores of supporters in his hometown of East London when he became the first boxer from the Eastern Cape to win a world title. Ncita suffered the same treatment from his manager and promoter as Bungu.
“Their focus is to make as much money as they can and when your career is fading, they use someone else to make money. They don’t teach you to save it,” says Ncita
For Ncita, this all culminated before the McKinney fight.
“What happened there before the journey to that fight, it made me not be there psychologically. Physically I was ready for the fight, but psychologically I was not myself. I already took a decision before the fight, I told myself I am done with boxing,” says Ncita.
Mnguni says that Bungu and Ncita can only blame themselves for their financial difficulties.
“I used to say to both of them, if you were workers you would get this kind of money when you are 60 years old, but you guys get it at 25. I said they should give it to investors. To them it was like they should use it today, but it was for the next 40 years. To them it was like it is the end of the world.”
At some point, Ncita owned a Steers fast food franchise but financial difficulties forced him to sell after eight years.
In a quiet neighborhood in Rosebank, Johannesburg, Golden Gloves promoter Rodney Berman enjoys a strong cup of coffee in his office painted with boxing greats from Mdantsane, including Bungu and Ncita.
“In my 39-year boxing history, my two favorite fighters of all time are Welcome Ncita and Vuyani Bungu, not just because of their boxing ability but because of their humbleness,” says Berman.
With confidence, he states his partnership with Mnguni is the most successful in South Africa. He constantly gives credit to Mnguni for handling Bungu’s fight with Hamed. Berman says he never signed a written contract with Mnguni because their relationship is built on trust. He says had Bungu won the fight with Hamed, life would have been rosy for the boxer.
“Vuyani froze that night, if he had beaten Hamed he would have been the hottest property in world boxing,” says Berman.
He confirms the purse Bungu received after the fight was R2.5 million (around $190,000) and says he was convinced Bungu would have won the fight. Berman says he was never aware of the problems Bungu faced and he is unaware of the real reason his personal trainer Terry ‘Baba’ Stotts was fired.
“Nobody ever came to me and said ‘Rodney, I have these problems.’ I was never aware of anything,” says Berman.
“Vuyani was just a too nice a person, if you look at it logically he should have phoned me and said ‘Rodney I like Baba Stotts, this is the man I want to train me, I don’t want him fired’. Then it would have ended the whole story.”
Berman says he was aware of the financial difficulties Ncita and Bungu faced after they retired but refuses to believe Mnguni could steal money from his boxers.
“To bring up this stuff now against Mzi is a bit unfair, the right time to do it was when it was happening,” says Berman.
According to Berman, both boxers are using Mnguni as a scapegoat. He believes they blew their fortunes.
“I told them to invest their money and Welcome did it. Two minutes after Welcome invested, he came back and took it all out; they never tell you that side of the story.”
“Ask Vuyani how many times I begged him to let me help him invest his money,” says Berman
The estimated purse Bungu made from his title defences is R6 million (around $500,000) with all the necessary deductions.
Nothing is as hard as the road to the top. In 2012, Bungu and Ncita teamed up as promoters to assist emerging boxers from the Eastern Cape. Many saw this as a rivalry to their mentor Mnguni, and to add insult to injury, Berman is their ally.
Both Bungu and Ncita are based in East London trying to make the millions that slipped away. Bungu is a happily-married motivational speaker. He gives advice to the youngsters of Mdantsane as well as current boxers; cautioning them of the flaws he faced. Former IBF international bantamweight champion, and Mdantsane-born, Zolani Tete has embraced the advice given to him by the veterans.
“People like Vuyani used to say they don’t want what happened to them happen to us. He usually says what hit him the most was not paying tax. Today, before even receiving your cheque, you know you have to pay tax,” says Tete.
Both Hamed and McKinney have suffered the same straightened circumstances as the African boxers they fought. Hamed has doubled in weight since the fight in 2000 and is unrecognizable when he walks along the streets of London. He has also been in the news for the wrong reasons since his early retirement.
In 2006, Hamed was involved in a high-speed car crash that left the other motorist seriously injured, resulting in Hamed serving 16 weeks in jail and receiving a four-year driving ban. Meanwhile, McKinney is a boxing trainer in his hometown of Mississippi.
Sadly, Mnguni is ill after a car crash in November 2013 and a stroke in March 2014 that left him paralysed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair. His gymnasium, Eyethu, which produced many world champions, is struggling.
Life after the ring has been difficult for everyone.

‘I Knew Nothing About Tax And The Taxman Caught Me’

At dusk on this warm evening, Phillip ‘The Time Bomb’ Ndou was ready to go off.  In a red gown with white flowing frills, he felt like a king. He danced his way to the ring with the chutzpah of a boxer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But this was Thohoyandou, in rural Limpopo, in South Africa, 500 kilometers north of Johannesburg and a million miles from the rest of the world. Through a cacophony of ululations and chants in Tshivenda, Ndou stepped into the ring for the first time in his hometown after a lifetime as a professional.
Boxing fans journeyed from Johannesburg for this fight that is in the heart of the Venda people. People from these parts are accustomed to a different type of boxing, called musangwe, hosted by the Venda king in Gaba Village, near Thohoyandou, every December. Musangwe is tough bare-knuckle boxing with no weigh-in restrictions. This is where Ndou landed his first punch as a young boy growing up in Golgotha Section, a few kilometers from Thohoyandou.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4122" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Boxing-217-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
“I have always wanted to fight at home but that never happened for almost 20 years. My manager and promoter, Promise [Moyo], made it possible for me to live my dream,”
says Ndou.
Moyo, a civil servant for 15 years, is now the director of Skylon Promotions that promotes Ndou and four other professional boxers.
“Here is the man with 40 fights but he never fought in front of his people as a professional. His mother, Margaret Nemukula, couldn’t believe it was really happening since there had been many speculations that Phillip is fighting at home but those ended up in disappointments,” says Moyo.
When it happened, it was worth it. The 38-year-old former South African WBA and international WBC junior lightweight champion sent the crowd into a frenzy, at Thohoyandou Town Hall, as he knocked down the Tanzanian slugger, Ramadhani Shauri, in the fourth round. Referee Grace Mahosi ended the eight-round bout when Ndou floored the 23-year-old Shauri for the second time, seconds later. All night, the visitor showed scant respect for Ndou. Against Ndou’s fervent supporters, Shauri had only his trainer Yassin Abaallaa and stablemate Lulu Kayage, a female fighter who won earlier against Lillian Mphahlele, for company.
On August 9, Women’s Day in South Africa to remember a march on parliament in 1956, Ndou’s win was a fitting celebration for his mother. She was in the crowd, with other women from their village. They dressed in colorful Venda traditional clothing to watch their son fighting at home for the first time.
It was a journey that led him in a wide circle. Ndou turned professional after boxing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, where he lost to Somluck Kamsing of Thailand, who won gold.
Another world title-holder, Ledwaba was in his corner. Ledwaba lost his IBF bantamweight belt to Manny Pacquiao, who stood in as a last minute replacement.
“It was not an easy fight, Ramadhani can crack… I didn’t struggle, but I didn&#8217;t know him so I had to read him first. I know my people don&#8217;t want to see me standing on the ropes, but when I&#8217;m on the ropes I&#8217;m more dangerous. From here, I am challenging for the IBF title. I want to say thank you very much to mothers, to the fans, to my promoter,” says Ndou.
This was Ndou’s fifth win on the trot. He is the only African to have fought undefeated world champion Floyd Mayweather. He lost to Mayweather in 2003, at Grand Rapids in Michigan, in the United States. That night, Ndou was ill advised by his trainer Nick Durandt that Mayweather was a coward who would run if hit.
This has been a long comeback from a brain injury Ndou sustained in 2004. It was so bad that a doctor, and Durandt, advised him to stop boxing. In 2009, Ndou was back, knocking out a Frenchman Rachid Drilzane in France. He lost to his cousin, Lovemore Ndou, who is now based in Australia, a few months later in Johannesburg.
Back in Thohoyandou, Abaallaa says his boxer’s loss was down to a lucky punch. He commended Ndou’s experience in surviving Ramadhani’s barrage of punches.
“I would like a rematch because I believe Ndou used his experience to win, he was out-performed – he is not a good boxer that can make us fear him, there’s nothing left in him&#8230; you were all quiet from round one to the third. But the lucky punch in the fourth round changed the course of the fight,” says Abaallaa.
But Abaallaa’s wish is unlikely. Ndou has set his sights on the International Boxing Federation Continental African title against Kenyan James Onyango Omogo, in December. Omogo is three years younger than Ndou and has battled through 30 fights.
Ndou may have danced into the ring, but he took many head and body blows from the youthful Ramadhani that he couldn’t dodge, at times he looked his age and a bit slow.
It’s been 12 years and scores of grueling fights since Ndou and Mayweather traded blows in Michigan. They have one thing in common. They both think they have one fight left in their wobbly legs.
Theirs is a story of how cruel the fight game is. Mayweather cruises through life on his millions, Ndou scrapes by at Thohoyandou Town Hall for his next pay check. It’s hard to believe they were both up and coming princes who once shared the same ring.

The Hero  Who Danced With Mayweather And Death Returns Home

When Moruti Mthalane started boxing as an amateur at the age of 13, he always showed commitment and was destined for bigger things.
‘Baby Face’, as he is affectionately known, is from a family of seven that is heavily involved in boxing. His father, Michael, used to train him and his older brother, Innocent, was a national champion. He grew up in Durban, in the KwaZulu Natal province, and just like most kids in his neighborhood he was an avid football fan and supported Orlando Pirates. However, his passion for boxing took over and he is now the current IBO flyweight champion and former IBF flyweight champion.
<div id="attachment_3749" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3749" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3749" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/121706512-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA &#8211; AUGUST 21: Aaron Mokoena and Baby Jake Matlala during the SA Sports Awards from Sun City Superbowl on August 21, 2011 in Rustenburg, South Africa. (Photo by Frennie Shivambu/Gallo Images/Getty Images)</div>
“Sport has always been part of my life. I remember back in the days as a youngster I used to play soccer with other kids in Durban. I preferred to be around the brilliant players who were capable of dribbling and scoring goals. Pirates were my favorite team and I used to admire Steve Lekoelea because he was such an exciting player, a good passer of the ball and he used to create scoring opportunities. However my passion for boxing took control and I concentrated on spending more of my time in the ring,” he says.
“I have always been focused as a boxer and I had ambition to make it to the top level. I was confident that I would make it because whenever I went to the gym I gave my best.”
When Mthalane turned professional at the age of 19, he realized he had to take his boxing more seriously. Throughout his career, he has had many tough bouts and fought all over the world. Now, at the age of 32, he feels there is still a lot he can offer in the ring. One of Mthalane’s biggest highlights was when he won the IBF world flyweight title against Julio Miranda of Mexico in 2009.
“I always make sure that I prepare well for my fights. I respect my job as a professional boxer and I arrive on time at the gym. It is very important to work hard in the gym and give all the necessary effort in whatever I do. I have the winning mentality and I am always determined to give everything that I can against whoever I face. I like to attack, even when it is tough in the ring. I just need to remain optimistic that I can do it. My victory against Julio Miranda was fantastic, I was very happy with my achievement when I won, you could just see the way how I celebrated that it really meant a lot to me.”
He has not looked back since that fight and feels that under his manager and trainer, Nick Durandt, his reign as a world champion will continue.
“It is good that I am working with Durandt as my trainer because he is the best. He has always guided me well when we are preparing for the fight. I have been working with Nick for a very long time and we have had a very good relationship,” he says.
Mthalane was stripped of his IBF belt when he pulled out of his mandatory defence against Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng last year. That fight was set to earn him R120,000. He was instead offered R1 million to fight Filipino Jether Oliva for the vacant IBO title – he won the fight and has since defended the title.
<div id="attachment_3748" style="width: 175px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3748" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3748" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/000044455-165x300.jpg" alt="" width="165" height="300" />October 2006. 40-year-old South African boxer Dingaan Thobela, &#8220;The Rose of Soweto&#8221;, makes his comeback in the boxing ring later this month in Johannesburg. Feature text available.</div>
Mthalane is inspired by the likes of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, who recently fought in the highest-paid boxing match the sport has ever seen. What does the South African think of the huge sums these superstars were paid?
“It is very encouraging when some top boxers in the world get paid well. It is very good for the sport.”
“I have always been interested in watching other top boxers around the world. I used to enjoy watching the heavyweights, the likes of Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield. Whenever there was a big heavyweight fight, I woke up early in the morning to watch the fight. I really enjoyed watching Bowe, his style really impressed me.”
Though he is disappointed that boxing does not get the television coverage it deserves in South Africa, Mthalane is determined to emulate past South African heroes such as ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala and Dingaan Thobela.
“Here in South Africa we have also produced many top professional boxers. I admired the late Baby Jake’s fighting style. He was very short but he used to give the taller fighters a tough time. It was really exciting watching him fight, his movements in the ring and the way he used to throw punches impressed me. There is a lot that I gained and learned from watching how him fight. I am the type of fighter that likes to attack. Even when it is really tough in the ring, I am always determined to give my best.”
Many boxers around the world have fallen victim to bankruptcy when their careers come to an end. Most did not make wise decisions with the money they earned. However, it seems to be a different story with Mthalane.
He is aware that boxing careers are short and has invested his money while he is earning it. Many up and coming boxers look up to him and he is always prepared to give them advice.
“I am so thankful that I got an opportunity to be a professional boxer and through what I earn I am able to look after myself well.”
“I believe I will still have a good life after I retire from boxing because I am not just thinking about now. I have invested a lot for my future. I live a clean lifestyle and I always make sure that I hang around the good people. It is very important for youngsters to follow their dreams and do the right things in life. Discipline is very important in boxing. One has to be focused inside and outside the ring. I encourage the young boxers to be very committed and work very hard in the gym. In order to be ready for the fight, one has to take the right steps during the preparations,” he says.
Mthalane is a religious man and a huge R&amp;B fan. In his downtime he listens to R. Kelly and Brandy.
He has proven his worth in the ring and is determined that there is a lot more he can offer. It is now up to boxing administrators and promoters to ensure that boxing is followed by millions in Africa and the boxers get rewarded for their hard work.

The Baby-Faced Assassin

So, ‘The Fight of the Century’ has come and gone. Normally after a fight of this magnitude, the loser is left wondering what might have been. He has to pick himself up, dust himself off and go back to the drawing board. But, in this case, it was the poor fans that wondered what could have been. Some, especially the non-boxing fans who were caught up in the hype, asked, “Is that it?”
Was that really the fight of the century?
What is a fight of the century anyway? To the hardcore boxing fan, such a fight is one where there are knockouts and knock downs; where there’s blood and tears, where there is drama. Fights that deserve that label are: Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman in 1974; Ali vs Joe Frazier in 1975; Sugar Ray Leonard vs Roberto Duran in 1980; Leonard vs Thomas Hearns in 1981; and Marvin Hagler vs Hearns in 1985.
With the much-awaited Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao fight, it was always going to depend on what the Filipino was going to bring to the table. In other words, it was up to Pacquiao to make or break the fight. As the famous ring announcer, Michael Buffer, said before the fight, “Pacman is going to have to come out like a Tasmanian devil if he hopes to upset Mayweather.” After Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said that his fighter was ready to go 25 rounds, expectation was high, despite many believing the fight happened five years too late. When the fight started, fans were on the edge of their seats. Not because of what was happening in the ring, because of what they hoped could happen.
What was happening was that Pacquiao, a slugger, was trying to outbox a boxer in Mayweather. After 12 not so exciting rounds, Mayweather ran away with a unanimous decision. The result seemed to surprise Pacquiao who said after the fight that he thought he did enough to be awarded a decision. Mayweather will march into his reported 49th and final bout in September still undefeated. When the dust settles, this fight will only be remembered for its financial records. It became the highest selling pay-per-view sporting event of all time with a staggering 5.65 million buys. The previous record in terms of pure sales was the 2007 fight between Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya at 2.48 million.
The fight generated well in excess of $400 million, much more than the Super Bowl.
The big question on everybody’s lips is whether there will be a rematch? Given that Pacquiao revealed he fought with an injured shoulder, chances are that a rematch could be on the cards. But it is doubtful that a second fight will generate even half as much interest.
Fans will remember the principle of once bitten twice shy. Simply put, most in the boxing fraternity were left underwhelmed.
<h2>Rich But Disappointing</h2>
The so-called Fight of the Century between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao was indeed the most expensive, but fell short of the high expectations.
“Mayweather did what he usually does – running away from his opponent. I expected a lot from them but they didn’t live up to my expectations. It was not a fight of the century; it could be one of the popular fights in the last 15 years. Mayweather should have knocked out Pacquiao but he fought like a coward,” says Alan Toweel, a boxing trainer in South Africa.
Toweel says what happened in Las Vegas was not good for boxing. He believes the knockout Pacquiaa suffered at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 finished him.
Ron Jackson, a boxing historian and journalist, agrees the fight was not a classic.
“I thought Pacquiao won the fight. It was very disappointing to see Mayweather running around. At least it could have been a draw,” he says.
A few days after Mayweather won his 48th fight and kept his unbeaten record, the American announced that his next fight will be in September and will be his last. Amir Khan, from Britain, is being touted as his next opponent. But this is yet to be confirmed.
“Hopefully it does happen. If it does, it will be an interesting fight because Khan is very good boxer. I don’t look forward to another Mayweather’s fight. He past his time,” says Toweel.

The $400-Million  Flop Of The Century

It was meant to be a historic first for Africa and women’s professional boxing – it was a flop. On February 3 2007, Gwendolyn O’Neil of Guyana challenged Laila Ali, the daughter of legendary professional boxer Muhammad Ali, for a WBC super-middleweight world title at Emperors Palace, in Johannesburg. To the chagrin of 2,800 spectators, who paid at least $50 a head, with the late Nelson Mandela ringside, Ali pulverized O’Neil in the first round to win with a knockout. The then 30-year-old Ali earned a $522,000 purse and quit the sport.
Many boxing enthusiasts saw the fight as a breakthrough for struggling professional female boxing in South Africa, which started in 2001. But Rodney Berman, the man who put it together, had other thoughts. Berman, the leading promoter in Africa, wanted to fulfil Ali’s wish for his daughter to fight on the continent, like he did in Kinshasa in 1974 in the famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ with George Foreman. But this was the first and the last female bout under Berman’s Golden Gloves Promotions.
“I won’t do it again; I don’t want to think about seeing two women in the ring bleeding. For me it’s not a sport for women, it is something I think is unfeminine. In my opinion women shouldn’t be boxing. It doesn’t interest me. I can’t watch women taking punishment. They have been trying to encourage it in South Africa but I don’t know why? Laila Ali was different; she was accepted worldwide as something special. She was the only one I was interested in because of her family pedigree,” says Berman.
Top trainer Nick Durandt, of Durandt’s Boxing World, is also not keen on female boxing. Durandt, who trained one woman boxer, says women’s boxing doesn’t make business sense and there’s no big money in it. In 30 years as a trainer, Durandt guided 38 world champions and 97 South African champions.
Eight years after Ali’s bout, South Africa has not even come close to staging another high profile women’s bout.
“It’s not only a South Africa problem, but worldwide. Have you seen a female bout headline a big event?” asks Durandt.
“In general, boxing is in a bad state in South Africa, so women’s boxing is even worse. The unfortunate passing of Phindile Mwelase didn’t do them any favors. If the tragedy of that nature happens early in the existence of sport, many people will surely keep away from it. Women’s boxing is almost non-existent to be honest. Nick Durant would know better,” says Peter Leopeng, a senior boxing analyst.
It is not merely an African story. Female boxers in the United States are migrating in droves to Mexico where the sport is lucrative and growing. New York-based Alicia Ashley was one of the Americans to take her chances in Mexico. In September, Ashley lost her WBC super bantamweight title to the Mexican Jackie Nava. She is still boxing at the age of 48.
In Africa there is a dearth of fights and sponsorship. Many women have quit the sport but those who remain earn peanuts. According to Boxing South Africa, there are fewer than 40 licensed women boxers in the country, with a majority coming from the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Gauteng. Few of these boxers have challenged for world titles – none have won. The names are little known: Sandra Almeida, the country’s first professional boxer; Noni Tenge; Julie Tshabalala; Gabisile Tshabalala and Unathi Myekeni.
It is a dangerous game of risk in the ring. Mwelase, a fairly inexperienced boxer with five professional fights, was knocked unconscious in the sixth of eight rounds in October last year in Pretoria. She died at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital after two weeks in a coma – the first African female boxer to die. The 31-year-old was fighting for $400.
Kenyan Conjestina Achieng was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, Mathare Mental Hospital, but couldn’t pay the bill. The government had to intervene. She was a former middleweight champion and the first Kenyan to fight internationally. In 2004, Achieng beat Uganda’s Fiona Tugume for the vacant WIBF middleweight world title. She would go on to win four world titles under different categories, registering 17 wins and four draws, earning the nickname Hands of Stone.
Despite these difficulties, women’s boxing is not dead, merely struggling.
Stanley Ndlovu, owner of Sir Stan’s Athletics, is a struggling trainer who has not given up on female boxers. Ndlovu became a trainer in the 1970s to keep youth off the streets of Soweto. He trains three professional female boxers in his stable. Among several male champions, Ndlovu guided his own son, Takalani, to the junior IBF featherweight title.
“While there were riots in 1976, we were busy training the youngsters in our gyms. After the hard practise, we sent them home to protect them from the brutality of police in the streets. We saved them from crossfire. The passion I had for boxing from those days I still have this day. Boxing is the same as any other institution. If you are not disciplined, you will face the consequences alone. But I don’t tolerate that with my boxers,” says Ndlovu. Sir Stan’s Athletics is hidden in the heart of a tourist trap in the Maboneng Precinct, in Johannesburg.  Every weekday, Ndlovu nurtures the talent of his students. The late and unfortunate Mwelase turned professional in 2012 under his eye. All Ndlovu’s female students hail from rural areas and are unemployed. They all hope boxing will one day change their lives for the better.
“The mentality of promoters towards lady boxers must change, we won’t despair. Look at the [South African women’s football team], Banyana Banyana, today. No one gave them a chance of making it when they started. Here, I will produce Commonwealth champions,” says Ndlovu.
Still they come, female and proud with gloves on. It is a Friday morning in the gym at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, three young women are punching bags like they hate them. One of them is Cebile Mlotsa, who weighs less than 50 kilograms and has a quick jab.
“I don’t really pay attention to money, but I just want to turn professional and follow my passion. Just because there are two men who decided that it’s not going to work, it doesn’t mean that women should stop boxing. I started with a coach that told me you are getting there. There was no discrimination that I am a girl, they will help you. They were all very supportive,” says Mlotsa, an amateur boxer and engineering graduate.
In 2013, Mlotsa joined the Wits boxing gym because she saw people running around campus looking fit and followed them. After a few days in the gym, she was introduced to boxing. Mlotsa has only two fights in two years.
“I liked the intensity involved in it. You have to prepare and it takes a lot out of you. There are no girls or boys in our gym, we run with the boys, we are sparring with the boys, everyone is a boxer. My mother raised concerns about violence in boxing, but I told her Mandela was a boxer too,” she chuckles.
Hedda Wolmarans is a young promising boxer and sports management student who is turning professional this year. She is unfazed by the penury of the sport she took up in 2012 just to keep fit. Wolmarans is currently the Gauteng amateur champion in the under 69 kilogram division. She fought 13 times under different trainers around Johannesburg but late last year joined reputable trainer Colin Nathan.
“I have what it takes to be a professional. Colin Nathan has warned me it is not going to be easy to get fights because Rodney Berman is not interested in female boxers. It’s going to be hard but that’s a risk I am willing to take. I am not driven by money, I just want to fight and get a South African title. Look at other male South Africa boxers, they still keep their jobs. I fell in love with the sport, it is very difficult, yet addictive. You have to constantly push yourself,” says Wolmarans.  And constantly push the boundaries of the sport for women.

UD16325

Women Should Not  Be Boxing?

It’s 10AM and the scorching summer sun burns over the lush suburb of Rosebank in Johannesburg. On this morning, under the shade of a tree, in the quiet backyard of a law firm office, is Africa’s top boxing promoter Rodney Berman, the guiding spirit of Golden Gloves Promotions. In a light blue short-sleeve shirt and cut-off jeans, Berman meets an equally casual boxing trainer Colin Nathan. Almost two years ago, a suited Berman met Prince Albert II at the Palace of Monaco, a meeting a world away from this tree in Rosebank, but at the heart of his business fortunes. On that day, an African entrepreneur met a prince with an idea of making money out of putting Monte Carlo back on the boxing map.
“It will take time, but we will build Monaco as one of the boxing Meccas in Europe,” says Berman.
The two men, under the tree in Rosebank, finalized the undercard fight for the next Monte Carlo bout between Hekkie Budler, the South African WBA and IBO minimum weight champion, and Jesus Silvestre, a Mexican with a famous first name and a strong jab. Budler defended his titles against Xiong Zhao Zhong in Monte Carlo in October.
The drawcard for February 21 in Monte Carlo, with a $3-million purse, is undefeated Russian Gennady Golovkin against Martin Murray, an English middleweight.
“It will break all the previous records, notwithstanding the Marvin Hagler and Norberto Rufino Cabrera fight in 1979. Television audiences all around the world will have it. It’s the fruition of what we have been working towards for more than 30 years, in a nutshell. I was very fortunate that I was into Golovkin, who in my opinion is the most exciting fighter in the world today, and even Mayweather respectfully ducks him. I understand Mayweather wishes to beat the Rocky Marciano 49/0 record. He is entitled to it, he has earned his greatness,” says Berman.
It’s a fight that sprang from an African connection with Monte Carlo – Princess Charlene, the wife of Prince Albert II. The former Olympic swimmer was born in Zimbabwe and bred in Benoni, a suburb east of Johannesburg. Her father, Michael Kenneth Wittstock, a former salesman in Johannesburg, had a chance conversation about boxing in Monte Carlo with the South African Emperor’s Palace Casino chief executive. He recommended Golden Gloves to Wittstock and his royal in-laws.
“The reality is I am very proud of the fact that I am from South Africa, the backburner of boxing in the world. Without the financial muscle and without the talent my opposition has, we are still regarded as one of the leading promotion companies in the world, which is a big endorsement. One thing Monaco has done for me was to level the playing field to put on Murray and Golovkin, where on the South African basis, you talking R4 million ($350,000) just for one fighter. HBO television will pay $10 million for the fight; I can’t reasonably expect to get that amount of money. The casino will pay $5 million and the crowd will pay $2,000 for a ringside seat, so despite all that, for over 30 years we have managed to build this reputation,” says Berman.
Berman has come a long way since his first venture into the fight game. That was with Charlie Weir, known as the Silver Assassin because of a streak of white hair, and Bushy Bester. It all began amid blood and fury at Wembley Ice Rink in Johannesburg on August 29, 1977. Weir, who died of cancer at the age of 35, knocked out Bester in the first of six rounds to become Golden Gloves’ first middleweight champion. The company produced more than 50 world champions, most South Africans. Among them: Vuyani Bungu; Welcome Ncita; Brian Mitchell and Budler. It took Golden Gloves 12 years to breed a world champion. Ncita won the world super bantamweight title in Israel against Fabrice Benichou in 1990.
Berman’s 37-year career in boxing has rarely been dull. He staged one of the greatest upsets in the history of heavyweight boxing at Brakpan, a grimy mining town east of Johannesburg, in 2001. The swaggering British millionaire heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis lost to underdog Hasim Rahman in the fifth round. The fight, which Lewis dedicated to Muhammad Ali, was described as the greatest upset since Gene Tunney defeated Jack Dempsey in 1926.
Speaking of Ali, another Berman adventure was the great man’s daughter’s fight in 2006. The historic first female professional bout in the continent between Laila Ali and Gwendolyn O’Neil, of Guyana, was cancelled at the last minute when a Cape Town promoter couldn’t find the money. Ali’s fee alone was $522,000. She won Berman’s rematch at Emperor’s Palace, in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, on February 3, 2007. Apparently, it was Ali’s wish that his daughter fight in Africa, as he fought in Kinshasa in 1974, the famous Rumble in the Jungle with George Foremen.
Many people saw the historic fight of Laila as a breakthrough for female boxing in Africa. Berman disagrees.
“In my opinion women should not be boxing. To me it’s not a sport for women,” Berman says.
The 72-year-old father of two believes casinos are the future.
“Monte Carlo Casino is the most magnificent casino I’ve ever seen. Boxing revolves around casinos. The Mayweathers, the Pacquiaos, the Klitschkos the Mitchells and even the Baby Jakes, they could have never achieved what they had achieved without pay television and casinos. The national televisions around the world cannot afford to pay what these boxers command and what they are entitled to,” he says.
Peter Leopeng, a veteran boxing analyst in South Africa, agrees.
“In America, Madison Square Garden was the Mecca of boxing before MGM Grand in Las Vegas took over. Mayweather fought most of his fights in MGM; Las Vegas is known worldwide as the capital of gambling. Casinos pay promoters to host their fights; it’s not about boxing but the event. These events attract punters and gamblers to the casinos and that means more money to them,” says Leopeng.
Golden Gloves has more than 300 international fights under its belt, but Berman himself has never thrown a punch. He is a football fanatic and played at the University of Witwatersrand in the 1960s. Berman tells FORBES AFRICA he was a good goalkeeper and if were not for his lack of height he would have turned professional. During the political turbulence in the country in 1993, Berman staged a friendly between Orlando Pirates and Italian side AC Milan, at Ellis Park, in Johannesburg. Nelson Mandela, who was to become president the following year, attended the 3-2 win by the Italians along with 60,000 fans.
Berman was close to Mandela and has fond memories. During Laila Ali’s fight, Berman welcomed Mandela, ready to usher him to his ringside seat.
“As he was getting out of his car he shouted: ‘Rodney, Rodney, you may not remember me, its Mandela here, Nelson Mandela.’ That’s the kind of man he was. He just made everybody feel comfortable.”
Though the future appears bright for Golden Gloves, Berman says he’s concerned about the dimming talent of boxers and administration in his country. There’s no point of taking boxers to fight for international titles when they are not up to it, he laments.
“It’s not about the greatness of the promoter but it’s the greatness of the boxer. You can be the best promoter but if the level of boxers is lowering, you can’t do anything. Africa is not good at producing heavyweights. Nigeria is trying but it’s not good enough. It is a sad indictment,” says Berman.
Even so Berman – the ring entrepreneur – is ready to go another round. Monte Carlo or bust!

The African,  The Prince And  The $10-Million Fight

It was a nightmare for the African Rocky amid the howls of the hecklers, against a younger and bigger fighter. The once washed-up Zolani Marali had the odds stacked against him in a bloody night in East London, South Africa. Marali was on the ropes so often that they cut his back open. Everyone could see the blood because he was on the run, to the anger of the crowd.
“Get off the bicycle and fight. We paid to watch good boxing, not your running around,” shouted a man in the crowd.
Kaizer Mabuza, known as The Animal, bullied Marali for 12 rounds but he held on to his WBF mini-flyweight title. It was a night of the underdog – Nelson Mandela would have been proud.
This boxing night on July 18, Mandela’s birthday, was dedicated to the man, himself a former pugilist. The boxers wanted to win for Mandela, all night they spat blood and bit the canvas. East London is South Africa’s boxing-mad city; children here learn to punch before they learn to talk. It’s about 230 kilometers from where Mandela was born in Mthatha.
“Although I had boxed a bit at Fort Hare, it was not until I had lived in Johannesburg that I took up the sport in earnest. I was never an outstanding boxer. I was in the heavyweight division, and I had neither power to compensate for my lack of speed nor enough speed to make up for my lack of power,” wrote Nelson Mandela in Long Walk To Freedom.
“Nobody celebrates Madiba as a boxer; the intention is to elevate that aspect of his life. People need to understand that there’s no Berlin Wall between politics and sport,” says Ayanda Matiti of Xaba Boxing Promotions that organized the event.
Surely, Marali would have welcomed the Berlin Wall between himself and Mabuza.
Marali clinched and ran from Mabuza, wearing him down. Mabuza soldiered on. Marali weaved and frustrated his opponent, who missed the head time and time again.
Boxing can be a cruel sport and Marali knows how. The 38-year-old, an All Africa Games bronze medallist, was on the verge of quitting five years ago. His fortunes changed under the eye of a new trainer Alan Toweel. Marali’s man in the corner comes from a boxing family, his father, Alan senior, was an outstanding trainer. His uncle, Vic Toweel, was South Africa’s only undisputed world champion &#8211; taking the bantamweight title from Manuel Ortiz on May 31, 1950 in Johannesburg.
“When Zolani was knocked out by a Korean in 2009, many boxing purists wrote him off; they told him to retire because he was finished. But I knew there’s something left in him,” says Toweel.
Marali made his comeback when he beat Ali Funeka to claim the world title in East London in 2012. On this night, he defended his title for the second time, winning a split decision against Mabuza &#8211; even though he got a bleeding back in the process.
Though fans jeered Marali for avoiding a toe-to-toe fight, Toweel says it was all part of the plan.
“Boxing is not all about fight, it’s about defense also. You run, you clinch and turn a man around. It’s a cat and mouse fight… Kaizer fought top overseas fighters like Zab Judah. There’s no way I was going to let Zolani trade punches with him. From the first round, Kaizer was upset, he was confused and he continuously missed punches. That set the pace of the fight. He landed better punches and didn’t take punishment,” says Toweel.
“At his age, I will continue working on his defense. We will take one fight at a time, he still has some two to three years in his feet.”
Marali’s fight was followed by a much-anticipated bout between Nick Durandt’s former stablemates, Lusanda Komanisi and Macbute Sinyabi. Komanisi showed no respect for his former senior. From the first bell they went at it hammer and tongs.
The younger, quicker Komanisi taunted Sinyabi in the ring. In the fifth round, Komanisi finished it. He caught Sinyabi with a sweeping left hook knocking him to the ropes. The fight could have ended there, but the referee let it go on. Sinyabi took time to get back on his feet. Komanisi battered Sinyabi who tried desperately to clinch. A volley of punches and a big right to the temple polished Sinyabi off.
This brought out the ugly side of boxing. Sinyabi struggled to breathe until paramedics gave him oxygen and walked him to the changing room. Komanisi’s IBO featherweight title brought Durandt’s world championship tally to 38 in 29 years as a manager and trainer.
“I expected the knockout, though I didn’t know which round. Before the beginning of the fifth round I told Lusanda ‘this is your moment,’” says Durandt.
As Marali licked his wounds, he looked forward to wealthier times. Next time he steps into the ring for a defense he can expect to earn up to $40,000 for a night’s work.
Marali is putting the money into his boxing gym in East London for his retirement in the days when he will no longer have to run the ring with blood on his back.

Hey Rocky! Get Off The  Bicycle And Fight!

Nick Durandt had humble beginnings and is now one of the top boxing trainers in Africa. His track record of producing a long list of world champions has earned him respect in the boxing fraternity and he is the most accomplished trainer in South Africa.
Durandt was born in Wolverhampton, England on Boxing Day and strongly believes that he was destined to be involved in the sport.
His family is traditionally athletic and while young, Durandt played football for the junior side of South Africa’s professional club, Wits University.  Now, he is determined to contribute to South African sport by training a long line of boxing champions.
“Boxing is my passion. I enjoy every moment of my time training my fighters in the gym. Every morning, whenever I wake up, I feel highly motivated to go to work because I really like what I am doing as a trainer and manager of fighters,” says Durandt.
Durandt’s father, Cliff, played for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic before returning to his country of birth, South Africa. He was at Wolverhampton when the club won its last FA Cup and first division league title.
<div id="attachment_2928" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2928" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-2928" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/0000101682-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA &#8211; 20 November 2009: Michael Schultz with coach Nick Durandt during his fight with Tineyi Maridzo from Zimbabwe at the Wembley Arena, Johannesburg. Schultz is rumoured to be the alleged hitman in the Brett Kebble murder case. Surprisingly, Schultz was knocked out by Maridzo in the first round. (Photo by Gallo Images/Foto24/Herman Verwey)</div>
“When I came to South Africa from England I was very young. My father played professionally in England and he made a huge impact as a player, he was a great soccer player. Top soccer administrators in South Africa, like Irvin Khoza, Kaizer Motaung and Jomo Sono, know my father very well. He was instrumental in the move of both Lucas Radebe and Phil Masinga when they left South Africa to play in England for Leeds United.”
“At Wits I played for the under-21s. It was during the time Eddie Lewis was still coaching and I did sit on the bench for the first team on three occasions. Anyway, I felt that boxing was my greatest passion that is why, even now, I am still involved in boxing,” he says.
Durandt has guided boxers such as Phillip Ndou, Hawk Makepula, Silence Mabuza and Cassius Baloyi from unknown fighters to superstars. He is proud when his fighters improve in the ring and their bank balances start to swell.
“I have had so many great moments with my different world champions. It is very important for fighters to look after their finances well so that even when their fighting career is over they can still live a good life.”
Moruti Mthalane, one of the best boxers in Durandt’s stable, reveals that the trainer is doing a fantastic job advising him how to invest his money wisely. Mthalane pulled out of a mandatory title defence against Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng and relinquished the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title in the process. He was offered R60,000 ($5,800) for the fight, which Durandt labeled a disgrace. Mthalane will instead trade blows in a fight in Durban for a guaranteed R1 million ($97,000).
“I have worked with Nick for a very long time now. He is a hard worker and I am really inspired by him. He encourages me to do what is right in the gym. He has been guiding me well financially. I feel I have a bright future, even when my boxing career comes to an end, because I have made some good investments,” says Mthalane.
Durandt feels that boxing should get as much television coverage as other prominent sports in South Africa. This will give aspiring boxers some role models to look up to.
“In order to build more and more superstars, the television coverage is very important. People need to see the fighters live when they fight. Can you imagine; I arrive at the OR Tambo International Airport with the world champion and the people don’t know him or don’t recognize him.”
“When Floyd Mayweather is fighting, the whole world watches him and that is good for the sport. We have talented boxers in South Africa so it is very important for them to get the necessary exposure on television so that people know who they are,” he says.
Durandt says one of his proudest moments was meeting the late former South African president Nelson Mandela. His gym is decorated with pictures of himself and Madiba. Mandela was a keen boxer and Durandt feels that great man’s legacy in boxing will inspire a lot of fighters.
“Nelson Mandela is the most important person I have ever met in my life. It was such an honor for me to meet him. The first time I met with Madiba I spent about four hours with him in his home in Houghton. We had lunch with him and after that we spoke about all types of things in life. He was a very special person. I remember on one other occasion I took my son to meet him and he paid special attention to him.”
Durandt is also a dedicated businessman. He owns two gyms in Melrose Arch and Norwood in Johannesburg. He also owns a tattoo shop.
“Boxing is my life but the tattoo parlor is my hobby.”
His entrepreneurial spirit started at the age of 14 when he owned a video shop in Johannesburg. At one stage he owned 10 clothing stores in the Johannesburg CBD and later sold them at a healthy profit to concentrate more on his boxing interests.
“I am a businessman and I always do my best to have a good balance of my business life and family life. The fact that I still have all my jewellery with me, I have not sold any, is an indication that I am doing well in business,” he says.
“My style of running the business is to get actively involved in it. I need to be hands on and know exactly what is going on. I am very committed to my businesses. I opened a tattoo shop just across the road from my other gym in Norwood because is closer. I identify the opportunity in the business that I have passion for.”
Durandt’s success has attracted sponsors from sportswear brand Kappa and betting company Supabets.
“In business I partner with people that I feel are at my standard or the same level. Kappa, for instance, are a powerful sporting brand. Look how well they are doing in Italy. I am aware that they are also sponsoring other soccer teams in the Premier Soccer League. As for Supa Bets, they are the best in Africa. They are the number one brand in the continent in their industry so it is very good for my business to associate with them. The most important thing is that I have a very good relationship with my partners. I can phone them anytime and they provide me with all I need from them.”
Durandt is a fighter by heart. Whether in business or at ringside, he will never pull any punches.

Tag: Boxing

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