More than 50 bare-knuckle fighters converged at Tshifudi village on Saturday (20th) to honour one of the very best boxing icons to have ever been produced in this country, Phillip "The Time Bomb" Ndou. They were not disappointed as the legend himself made an appearance at the tournament.
Ndou was born and bred in the former Venda homeland, at a village called Mbahe, and is a product of the Vhavenda traditional boxing sport called Musangwe. Unlike most African fighters, his professional debut was overseas, in Widnes, Britain, where he floored his opponent, Nigel Leake, with a vicious left-hook, right-uppercut combination.
Early in his career, his manager/trainer, the late Nick Durandt, took him far and wide, letting him fight in different countries to build his confidence and knock out even more opponents.
Ndou is a seven-time former South African National featherweight champion (1990 to 1996). He also won the WBA Inter-Continental featherweight championship, the WBC International Super featherweight championship and the WBU Super featherweight championship.
He first made national headlines when he won the South African National Featherweight championship in 1998 in a match against Jacky "The Pressure Cooker" Gunguluza from the Eastern Cape. This was followed by his fight-of-the-year-battle with Cassius Baloyi at Carnival City in Brakpan in 2001, and his most famous fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2003.
After the tournament on Saturday, Ndou said he was trying to find a place to open a boxing gym in the Vhembe region to train youngsters. "There are many young and talented boxers in this area. I have already spotted Cena Nephalama during a Musangwe tournament, and today he is a professional boxer."
Ndou said a lot of hard work was needed to become successful in boxing. "Boxing is a very dangerous sport for lazy people. Here you have to train at least six days a week and be ready to fight at any given time."