Story audio is generated using AI
Thinumzi Gqola’s premedical for his SA mini-flyweight title defence at Gompo Hall on Tuesday was dominated by the debate about his decision to keep camping in Johannesburg when he will fight on the coast.
Gqola will risk his crown against Athanani Mxoli in the Duncan Village derby at the Orient Theatre in KuGompo City on Friday.
Story audio is generated using AI
Athanani Mxoli might be virtually unknown in boxing circles, with some even questioning his approval for the SA title, but he is determined to dramatically introduce himself when he challenges Thinumzi Gqola at the Orient Theatre in KuGompo City on Friday.
The battle for the mini-flyweight title to be promoted by Xaba Promotions will pit two Duncan Village boxers against each other in the latest edition of the township derby, with Gqola being the more well-known of the two.
Besides fighting on national television in his last two bouts, beating Mthokozisi Ngxaka twice has raised Gqola’s profile, making him a favourite to retain his belt.
However, that has not bothered Mxoli, who has been chasing Gqola for a while, with their planned fight in December 2024 getting cancelled at the eleventh hour.
“We have been chasing him for a while, and we are glad this fight has finally been made,” Mxoli’s trainer, Dumisa Danisa, said.
“We even submitted three challenges for him to make sure that we corner him to defend against us.”
While Gqola is camping in Johannesburg for a month, Mxoli has also left nothing to chance in preparations for the biggest bout of his career, as he is maintaining a seven-day training regimen without taking a break on Sundays.
He was fine-tuning his technique this past weekend, with no time for interview requests.
“I know people might think we are struggling with weight for training this much, but there is no such thing; it is just [that] we want to make sure we are in the best shape for this opportunity.”
Mxoli has vaulted to the top spot in SA ratings despite his five-fight record, which shows three wins, a loss and a draw.
He still disputes the lone loss to Nhlakanipho Kunene in KwaZulu-Natal, while his November 2024 draw in a rematch against Qhamani Mhlana, who now holds the provincial title, was rather unfortunate, as he appeared to repeat the win he had scored 11 months earlier.
Danisa still regrets taking the rematch which was offered with three weeks’ notice.
“We had not fought for over a year, so in fear of being removed from the ratings, we decided to take the rematch even though we did not get enough time to prepare.
“But I still believe we deserved the win, not the draw.
“When Gqola was reluctant to fight us, we had already planned to challenge Mhlana for the provincial title to settle that controversial draw, but thank God we now have a bigger fish to fry.”
Mxoli is a product of the East London Youth Boxing Club, which is one of the oldest boxing gymnasiums in Duncan Village, having been opened in 1987 by the late Tony Batala.
Batala was held in high regard in the shack-littered township as the boxing hope to dethrone then SA junior featherweight champion Vuyani Bungu before Bungu won the IBF title in 1994.
Danisa said Mxoli would finally end the gymnasium’s drought of never producing an SA champion by not only dethroning Gqola but also knocking him out.
“He will have to save himself by falling on his face,” he said.
Click here to join the Daily Dispatch’s WhatsApp channel and get the latest news delivered straight to your phone.
Daily Dispatch
The Xaba Promotion-organised show marks the second time Gqola fights under the promotion after beating Mthokozisi Ngxaka in their Boxing SA-ordered rematch at the same venue in December.
Since becoming a champion Gqola, from the Toilet City section in Duncan Village, has been camping in Johannesburg in a move which drew questions on the wisdom of preparing in a high-altitude area when he will be fighting at the coast.
And when asked about the strategy, he was evasive, saying only that all the questions would be answered at the Orient Theatre on Friday.
“After Friday, no-one will ask me that question,” he said.
Story audio is generated using AI
The last time KuGompo City trainer Ncedo Cecane was involved in a boxing match, he left the Orient Theatre in triumph after guiding the unheralded Ardy Katompa to a stunning win over Siyabulela Hem in April.
Having cemented his status as one of the best development trainers, Cecane’s sterling work saw him being recruited to head the WBC gymnasium in Johannesburg.
Within a short period, the quality of his work was evident when he led the relatively unknown Congolese Katompa to the biggest fight of his career against Hem, the SA junior featherweight champion, though his belt was not at stake.
Katompa not only dealt Hem a systematic beating but also inflicted his first knockout loss when he forced him to quit at the end of the ninth round, silencing fans in the packed venue who had come to watch Azinga Fuzile in action against Asanda Gingqi.
But Cecane, a former national flyweight champion, was not surprised by the victory, having previously guided boxers such as Landile Ngxeke to a SA title triumph against heavy odds.
“All I want from a boxer is work ethic and level-headedness, and that is what I got from Katompa,” he said.
And that is what he is also getting from his lone SA champion, Thinumzi Gqola, as he prepares for the second defence of his mini-flyweight belt against Athanani Mxoli on June 26 at the venue where Katompo sealed his victory.
Gqola, from the Duncan Village section of Toilet City, has upped and moved to camp in Johannesburg for a month.
Cecane said he was satisfied with the work his charge was putting in at camp, where there are no distractions.
“This environment is perfect in many respects because back home boxers tend to lose focus as they are constantly mobbed by their fans and [there are] other distractions.
“Here it is nothing but training, rest and more training, so much that all my KuGompo City boxers are here to benefit from top-notch camp and sparring sessions.”
Gqola, who is the pride of Toilet City, whose residents turn up to his fights in numbers, was last in action in December when he beat Mthokozisi Ngxaka in a rematch ordered by Boxing SA.
Ngxaka had filed a protest after his title loss in August, and BSA surprisingly sided with him, but Gqola proved that his win was no fluke when he outsmarted his adversary for the second time.
The stocky boxer, whose fleet-footed style defies his muscular build, has since emerged as one of the worthy SA champions and will enter the Duncan Village derby clash against Mxoli as a huge favourite.
However, fight promoter Ayanda Matiti of Xaba Promotions reminded fans of the dynamics of a derby, where form and odds often fly out the window.
“I see a hotly contested bout between these two and do not be surprised if we are treated to an upset,” he said.
Mxoli has a novice fight record of three wins, a draw and a loss compared to Gqola, who boasts six victories and two losses.
Click here to join the Daily Dispatch’s WhatsApp channel and get the latest news delivered straight to your phone.
Daily Dispatch
But his trainer, Ncedo Cecane, a former SA flyweight champion, was more forthright, saying camping in a high-altitude area was more adequate for a boxer who would be fighting in the coastal environment.
“It is the other way round because when a boxer camps in a coastal area, he is adversely affected when fighting in the high altitude,” he said.
“So camping in Johannesburg will work in our favour on Friday.”
Cecane, who kept intimidating Mxoli during the premedical proceedings, imploring him to repeat the bravado he showed in podcasts about the fight, has loads of experience guiding boxers for the SA mini-flyweight belt, having trained former champion Xolisa Magusha before.
The highly anticipated derby between Mdantsane’s Asanda Gingqi and Azinga Fuzile of Duncan Village has become bigger with the addition of fast-rising star Moyisi Booi, who embarks on his quest for world ratings.
The tournament scheduled at East London’s Orient Theatre on April 24 will see Booi take on Argentinian David Nunez for the vacant IBF intercontinental junior bantamweight belt, with the winner guaranteed a world rating.
The event has already set tongues wagging with endless debate on the Gingqi-Fuzile bout, which will pit Mdantsane against Duncan Village in the junior lightweight division.
Fuzile is chasing a return to the world ratings by beating Gingqi, a two-time South African champion, though no title will be at stake.
However, the addition of Booi, who is arguably the fastest rising boxer in the country after ruthlessly cutting down opposition on his way to winning and defending the South African junior bantamweight title, has piqued more interest.
Having won all his four junior bantamweight bouts by stoppages since suffering his lone loss in the flyweight division, Booi is tipped to follow in the footsteps of previous East London boxers in the division, such as Phumelela Cafu, who became world champion.
In fact, his camp was willing to unleash him against Cafu and world-rated Sikho Nqothole.
While Nqothole was willing to accept the bout, promotional and managerial affiliation put paid to the suggestion.
Booi’s promoter, Ayanda Matiti, who will stage the blockbuster tournament under Xaba Promotions (XP), said his charge was ready to test his skills against the best in the world.
“We have no doubt that Booi belongs on the world stage, and this bout will vindicate our belief,” he said.
“After this bout we expect him to crack the top 10 of the IBF ratings, and from there anything is possible.”
Having manoeuvred Cafu to scale the world ratings until he was listed in a qualifying world title shot spot before the Duncan Village boxer defected, XP is confident Booi will get his day in the sun under its wing.
Fresh from a swashbuckling four rounds of destruction of his predecessor Lwando Mgabi to retain the SA title in December, Booi is in the fast lane to prove his mettle at an international level, with Nunez representing his first opponent from abroad.
The Argentinian boasts an impressive fight record of only two losses suffered in his first two professional bouts in 13 outings, though at 31, questions arise about why he has a novice record.
Booi, 22, has fought nine times, with six of his last bouts not going the full distance, though he was on the losing end against Zimbabwean Ndabezinhle Phiri, forcing him to move up a division.
Click here to join the Daily Dispatch’s WhatsApp channel and get the latest news delivered straight to your phone.
Daily Dispatch
Interestingly, Magusha was also ordered by the BSA to grant a rematch to an opponent he controversially beat.
The opponent is recently anointed WBC mini-flyweight champion Siyakholwa Kuse, who ended up facing Sibusiso Bandla after inheriting the rematch order following his win over Magusha.
While Gqola ensured no repeat of the Magusha conundrum after beating Ngxaka, Mxoli has vowed to unseat him despite the odds stacked against him.
Both boxers underlined their readiness for the fight when they fell within the stipulated 50kg limit, with Mxoli’s 47.75kg just five grams over Gqola’s weight.
A highly anticipated clash between SA junior bantamweight champion Moyisi Booi and his predecessor Lwando Mgabi turned into a one-sided butt-whipping before Mgabi was rescued in the fourth round at Orient Theatre on Friday evening.
Booi administered a brutal beating on Mgabi, who had forfeited the belt on the scales in June, leaving Booi to contest and win it with an eighth-round stoppage of Ntuthuko Magcaba in September.
Preceded by bold predictions with Mgabi vowing to regain his belt, the bout never lived up to expectations bar the first round when Mgabi appeared to be in control and even gesticulated to the crowd at the end of the round that he was on his way to taking back his title.
But Booi turned on the heat in subsequent rounds, landing at will until he floored Mgabi in the fourth round.
On bout resumption, he floored Mgabi again, with the vanquished boxer appearing to briefly lose his senses as the fight was waved over.
Thinumzi Gqola’s ascent to the SA miniflyweight title reign in August unleashed discontent in the Mthokozisi Ngxaka camp, leading to an ordered rematch.
But there was no controversy in the Boxing SA-ordered rematch when Gqola repeated the victory in front of his partisan followers.
His win was confirmed by all three judges, who scored the bout 117-111, 117-112 and a lopsided 119-109.
Gqola won the bout through lateral movement, often leaving the plodding Ngxaka in his tracks with quick combos.
Ngxaka wanted to land single shots but struggled to corner his fleet-footed foe.
The flashy Gqola from Duncan Village was loudly cheered every time he threw a punch, even those that did not land.
But there was no doubt that he was the deserving winner, especially when he swept the championship rounds.
Daily Dispatch
Both are expected to have no problem falling within the 47.63 limit in Thursday’s final weigh-in.
With the mini-flyweight division dominated by KuGompo City boxers who have just a handful of fights, Mxoli, who is rated top, does not understand his underdog status against Gqola when they are almost the same age.
At 26, Gqola is Mxoli’s senior by a year, with both boxers having a similar build with no physical advantages.
Click here to join the Daily Dispatch’s WhatsApp channel and get the latest news delivered straight to your phone.
Daily Dispatch
