By Chris Totobela
The Makana Boxing Organisation (Makabo) joined in the 16 June Youth Day celebrations with a boxing tournament held at the Indoor Sports Centre in Joza, with the Golden Gloves, Masibambane, and Thembalethu Boxing Club exchanging leather.
There were some very interesting bouts that got the crowd on their feet. In the opening bout of the tournament, Golden Gloves’sYonda Mabandla lost to Thembalethu Boxing Club’s Daliwonga Makhuluma by TKO in the third round. Another exciting bout saw Ayabonga Mantile of Masibambane BC against Linamandla Jimm of Golden Gloves in a highly anticipated encounter. The fans of both camps burst into song when bringing out their boxers to the ring. Both boxers started the fight at high speed showing clear intentions. In the first round, Jimm threw solid and excellent punches catching Mantile with a straight right. Mantile fought back with a combination of punches from the body up to the head.
In the second round, Mantile started fighting behind the jab and followed it up with some neat left uppercuts and left hooks, but Jimm kept on throwing solid punches that caught Mantile. In the third and final round, Mantile showed more hunger and threw clean and effective punches. But Jimm did not change his game plan. In the last few minutes of the round, both boxers stood toe to toe and exchanged leather to the approval of the crowd. Mantile narrowly won the fight on points.
Another great bout was an all-female bout between Golden Gloves’ Linomtha Zonke and Siyole Mbunge. Both boxers showed their intentions as early as the first round. Mbunge led with a stiff jab followed by a straight left and right hook, while Zonke replied with a combination of punches starting from the body up to the head. In the second round, Zonke took the fight to Mbunge and she responded with solid one-two’s at Zonke’s head, but Zonke took them well.
In the third round, both boxers gave everything they had, throwing good punches. They both tired towards the end of the round but still threw solid punches. Both boxers received huge applause and a standing ovation from the boxing lovers who packed the Joza Indoor Sports Centre. Zonke narrowly beat Mbunge on points and it was good to see the great sportsmanship shown by both women after the fight, which was also applauded by the crowd.
Makabo executive member Khayalethu Richards was pleased with the tournament. “This was a very good tournament for our young boxers, and as you can see, the fans have come in numbers to support these youngsters. I would like to thank all the clubs and boxers who took part in this Youth Day event. Special thanks go to the fans for their undying support,” Richards said.
Makhanda’s champion Mziwoxolo Ndwayana congratulated all the winners and praised the coaches and officials for making the event possible. “I think this was a perfect venue for this tournament, as it was not going to be convenient for our boxers to fight outside in this cold weather. I’m happy that at the end of the day, the sport of boxing won”, Ndwayana said.
All boxers who took part in the tournament walked away with a medal. This is how this day is supposed to be celebrated. The powers that be, need to make sure that they invest in such events in order to revive all the sports codes in Makhanda. Holding events that are mainly about long speeches won’t really help to revive the sport and rescue our youth from drug and alcohol abuse.
