Local boxers get rude wake-up call during Cape Town bouts

Three local boxers who participated in the Insane Boxing Promotions Tournament in Cape Town seemingly received free boxing lessons from their opponents at the Pride Fighting Academy on Hope Street in Cape Town on Saturday, 27 April.

Khodani “Cena” Nephalama, Ismael Makhado, and their female training mate, Gudani Mudau, all promised to win before jetting off to Cape Town last week, but they all had a bad day at the office. According to their trainer-manager, Mr John “Smoking Joe” Nemakonde, Nephalama lost to Deon Promnick in the middleweight division when he refused to honour the third round.

“Nephalama refused to come out for the third round after a gruelling first two rounds between the two boxers. He was very exhausted and told me he couldn’t continue, and the fight had to be stopped,” he said.

He said Makhado lost to Aseko Nocele by a knockout in the second round, while female fighter Gudani Mudau lost to Jessica Mouneimne on points.

“To be precise, there is a problem of boxers missing training sessions in our camp, and it was clear that they were getting tired very fast during the tournament. I have to read the riot act to all boxers to train hard. We have to train harder, starting from this week,” he said.

Date:02 May 2024

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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