‘Anaconda’ plans to put squeeze on ‘Tigress’
GUESTS were awed by one girl clad in traditional gear, who was part of the parade of boxers at the national boxing awards in Durban this past January.
Like some of her peers who had replaced their familiar fighting gear, her identity was even lost to seasoned journalists.
The boxers had swapped their gears with designer suits and dresses making it difficult to recognise them.
As the awards were being dished out, there came the category for the female boxer of the year, which pitted Bukiwe Nonina, Sharoddene Fortuin and Leighandre Jegels.
Fortuin was dressed in an impressive red suit which nearly transformed her into a man while Jegels had a long impeccable dress which revealed her feminine side and belied her penchant for the combat sport. But where was Nonina? “And the female boxer of the year is...”, blared the programme director as the audience was held in suspense. “Bukiwe Nonina!!!” Then the woman in traditional gear got up dancing amid wielding of a knobkerrie she carried along and ululated as she shook hands with everyone on her way to the podium.
Grabbing the microphone, she told the audience that she was not surprised by being bestowed with the female boxer of the year award.
“Is that Bukiwe Nonina?” one journalist asked bewildered.
Even this scribe who has been in the fight game for a while was thrown off his stride.
And that was even shameful as Nonina hails from Dutywa which is one of the three towns making up Mbashe municipality, the other being Willowvale where I hail from.
Nonina’s achievements have been phenomenal as she is the only boxer from the municipality jurisdiction to hold an SA title.
In fact she is the only female boxer in the land to have successfully defended her national title – the SA bantamweight crown – five times.
In the award ceremony post interview Nonina said she was still aiming to break more records.
“I want to win a world title and believe you me I will do that before the halfway stage of the year,” she said.
True to her word, this evening represents just that opportunity for her to back her claims when she will contest for the vacant WBF bantamweight crown at OR Tambo Hall in Khayelitsha.
Standing in her way from adding yet another feather to her cap will be German lass Alesia Graf.
The German, who goes by the “Tigress” moniker, will be a huge jump in class for Nonina due to the wealth of experience reflected by her record of 34 bouts.
In comparison Nonina has fought just 14 times winning 10 and losing three with an odd draw.
But she is not deterred by the big task of toppling the 36-year-old German.
“I am not worried at all by her record,” she said.
“In the end it will be me and her with our skills and fighting prowess guiding us through. A record is just a statistic that has no bearing on the fight outcome.”
Although she now lives and trains in North West, Dutywa is still her inspiration to conquer the world and engrave her name further into the history books.
“Already I am the only female boxer from Dutywa to hold a national title; in fact I am the only one to do so even when males are included. Now I will be the first world champion from the area and no one can stand in my way.”
She says she will back up her “Anaconda” moniker by crushing the “Tigress” to pieces before devouring her.