Mnguni made his passion felt
Mzi held up alongside Durandt as ring’s most colourful
AS the country celebrates the boxing contribution of Mzi Mnguni, we scrutinise the man.
There is no doubt that Mnguni is the most colourful character in the game, arguably sharing that honour with the retired Nick Durandt of Johannesburg.
That is why the duo remain the best pair to produce boxing champions in the country, although some would argue that Durandt’s achievements were obtained by allegedly poaching some of Mnguni’s boxers. As the saying goes when ‘two bulls clash it is the grass that suffers’, and that has been the norm when Mnguni’s boxers came up against those trained by Durandt. One of their clashes first started in court, when Mnguni’s former charge, Macbute Sinyabi, left him to join Durandt in Johannesburg. Mnguni was understandably peeved by the move, especially as he used his shrewdness and resources to revive Sinyabi after his devastating knockout defeat by Bongani Mahlangu. Sinyabi, a bright amateur boxer, was expected to join Mnguni when he turned professional, but for strange reasons he opted for someone else and paid the price.
Mnguni plucked him from the canvas and brought him back to the game with articulate match-making and promoting en-route to an SA junior featherweight title clash against Tshepo Mofokeng.
To ensure the fight was held in Sinyabi’s backyard to give him home ground advantage, Mnguni paid Mofokeng a healthy purse.
And all his calculations paid dividends when Sinyabi knocked out Mofokeng to win the title.
Just when Mnguni was expecting to reap rewards for his hard work, Sinyabi left him to join Durandt in Johannesburg.
The matter ended up in the Bhisho High Court – becoming the first ever boxing dispute to be decided by a high court judge.
Sinyabi won a landmark case to worsen the relations between Durandt and Mnguni.
And when the boxers of the two mentors, Irvin Buhlalu and Benedict Dlamini, clashed for the SA lightweight title the tension could be sliced with a knife.
After two controversial razor-thin decisions in favour of Mnguni’s Buhlalu, the boxers clashed for the third time.
Before the fight Durandt and Mnguni, who promoted the fight, were embroiled in a bitter argument over the number of tickets for the Dlamini technical team, with Mnguni refusing to pay for one extra ticket which Durandt demanded.
While in the ring just before the start of the fight, Durandt fanned the situation when he produced a R100 note and brandished it towards Mnguni to insinuate that he did not need the money.
Mnguni, who was at ringside, produced his own note and pretended to wipe his backside with it.
What later transpired was one of the most absorbing clashes ever witnessed in an SA ring, as the two boxers took over the animosity of their handlers.
The pace and intensity of the fight was so gross that by the ninth round Buhlalu indicated to his corner he was quitting.
Mnguni and Dudu Bungu, who manned the corner cried, telling Buhlalu that he could not do that to allow Durandt to win.
“Your wife and kids are watching you on television. The wife is probably watching this fight with your inlaws and close family members and you want to embarrass all of them by quitting?” they wailed.
Buhlalu decided to fight on, putting forth a gusty display down the stretch to escape with his title via a split decision and to spark wild celebrations in the Mnguni camp.
But it was not over as, in a fit of rage, Durandt told Buhlalu he was a bum. This sparked a fracas. As they say, there are no permanent enemies in boxing and Mnguni and Durandt later worked together to guide Lusanda Komanisi to an SA featherweight title triumph over former Mnguni charge, Aphiwe Mboyiya, and to a first title defence against Sabelo Nokhene.