By Chris Totobela
All roads led to the Joza Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday where Sarah Baartman district boxing trials were held.
Different municipal teams exchanged leather to book their places in the district team that will be travelling to the provincial trials scheduled for 31 May to 2 June in Mthatha.
Electrifying bouts got the crowd on their feet, with all the boxers showing off their beautiful skills while entertaining the huge crowd that turned up on the day.
In one of the all-female bouts, Makhanda’s very own Esona Peter defeated Jeffrey’s Bay’s Nomvelo Songwevu in an one-sided fight which Peter won unanimously. In another thrill-a-minute fight, Loyiso Sandi of Masakheke Boxing Club reminded the audience of the legendary Chris Eubank as he danced his way to victory against Golden Gloves’ Linothando Zonke. Sandi won the fight but came unstuck in the next stage of the trials as he lost to a very tough and hard hitting opponent from Ndlambe Municipality.
In another exciting female bout, Lihlelethu Nzuzo and Amanda Ncaphayi, both from Makhanda, exchanged blows. Both boxers started the fight very slowly and spent most of the first round weighing each other out. In the second round, Nzuzo threw a few good punches, often finding the target, while Ncaphayi threw one punch at a time, causing her to be slightly behind on points. In the third round, Ncaphayi started to take the fight to Nzuzo, fighting behind the jab, but Nzuzo finished off the fight in grand style as she threw good combinations and landed some good body punches. Nzuzo won on points to progress to the provincial trials.
In another fight that got the boxing fans talking, Rhodes University’s Jamaluddin Williams lost on points to an opponent from Ndlambe Municipality. Williams controlled the fight from the word-go and got the better of his counterpart, catching him with good combinations. His right hook did the damage as it often landed on the face of his opponent, forcing him to clinch for the most part of the bout.
The spectators expected Williams to be declared the winner but to their surprise, Williams lost the fight to an opponent who hardly threw any punch throughout the bout. A stunned Williams spoke to GM immediately after the fight. “I think everyone in this hall saw that I won the fight, but the judges saw it differently. I’m not sad because I know I won the fight.”
The result also shocked William’s corner man, Thamsanqa Ndlovu. “I think we did enough to win the fight but the judges saw otherwise. We will now go back to training and work on finishing the fight early on and not leave it to the judges hands.”
An angry neutral boxing fan, Louis Ntlanjeni, called the result a “daylight robbery”. “Which fight were the judges watching? This is not acceptable. We try and bring the boxers from town to become part of what we are doing in the township, but I think what has just happened here might chase them away. Judges need to be fair at all times irrespective of who is fighting,” Ntlanjeni lamented.
A member of the Sarah Baartman district executive committee, Khayalethu Richards, told GM that Williams will be part of the travelling team. He consoled him after the fight. Richards said: “The judges saw the fight in their own way and that is why we had to stand up as executive members and take charge in this situation.”
Trophies and medals were handed to all deserving participants.
Sarah Baartman Boxing Organisation president, Thembisa Qinela, was pleased with how the trials went. “We had a very good tournament and all boxers did well and credit must also go to their coaches for preparing their boxers. I would also like to thank the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture for helping the teams with transport.”
Qinela said the only hiccup was the non-availability of paramedics from the Department of Health.
