‘Komani’ gets that break to prove himself
Only Nxoshe stands in his way to elusive title
APRIL 28 in 2002 will never be easily erased in the memory of top East London trainer Vido Madikane. And it was not for his responsibility in indirectly launching the career of one Nkosinathi Joyi but because the day started tumultuously for him.
Madikane was one of the East London-King William’s Town boxing entourage headed to Queenstown for a tournament which was to serve as1 Joyi’s professional debut.
His boxer Dalisizwe, whose surname of Komani caused a bit of a confusion with organisers, was to serve as Joyi’s first opponent in the paid ranks.
On the way to the fight, Madikane was stopped along the way when an issue with his wife resulted in him having to hitch-hike instead of travelling with his own vehicle.
As it would prove to Joyi’s next 22 opponents, Komani lost the fight but took solace for going the full distance with the future world champion.
While Joyi scaled the heights, Komani was reduced to a journeyman who never got a whiff of fighting for the national title. But his career would take an upswing when he relocated to Cape Town where he registered a couple of impressive victories to give his faltering career a boost.
Now 15 years later Komani finally gets that elusive opportunity to fight for the national title when most of his peers including Joyi are already in the twilight of their careers.
This when he will challenge Joyi’s homeboy Thembelani Nxoshe for the SA flyweight crown at Coetzenberg Sports Centre in the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town at the end of the month.
It has been a long time coming for Komani who never gave up hope of one day laying his hands on the belt. Now not only does the opportunity presents itself but he will also benefit from homeground advantage and being the house fighter.
His promoter Mzoli Tempi, who will organise the fight, is exuding confidence about the chances of his charge. “This is all or nothing for Komani to finally become the SA champion,” said Tempi.
“He is the servant of the game and all these years he had that one ambition of fighting for the national title and now we have made it happen for him. Fighting for a national title defines the boxing achievements of any boxer just it does to other athletes when they represent their country. So you can imagine what this means to him.”
The closest piece of silverware Komani came to winning was the regional title of the marginal WBF when he lost to Mfundo Gwayana.
Gwayana is ironically responsible for Nxoshe’s reign as he blew his lead in their vacant title clash before allowing his foe to rally back and score a crushing seven-round knockout victory.
Losing to Gwayana, who he iced, is one of the reasons Nxoshe had no problem taking his crown to enemy territory after the fallout of his IBO flyweight title challenge to Moruthi Mthalane in a fight scheduled for last weekend with Mthalane ending up facing Filipino Genesis La.
Nxoshe’s manager Thando Zonke does not see Komani presenting any stumbling block, describing the fight as a stepping stone as he seeks a world title shot for his charge.
“We had agreed to challenge Mthalane but the purse did not reciprocate the risk,” he said.
“But we will get another opportunity for Nxoshe. All he needs to do is to brush aside this Komani challenge and we will take it from there.”
But why risk taking the title to the enemy territory after Nxoshe’s documented battle with Boxing SA to finally get that belt?
Nxoshe had thought he had won the title when he beat Doctor Ntsele only for BSA to refuse to recognise him as a champion due to certain conditions not met to qualify the fight as a title bout.
After his endless battle which forced him to hop from one camp to the other as he sought support until he settled under Xaba Promotions and Events (XPE) which facilitated his overdue coronation, Nxoshe should be careful not to take any major risk that may see him part with the title.
XPE is already setting the path to his downfall with its fighter Yanga Sigqibo. But Zonke dismissed that insisting Nxoshe would return with his champion status intact. “I do not want to accommodate any of this other talk about people plotting for Nxoshe’s demise, suffice to say we will fight anyone BSA tells us to fight.” — Boxing Mecca