‘Rush Hour’ in no hurry to quit just yet
MDANTSANE veteran boxer Ali “Rush Hour” Funeka is not throwing in the towel as yet on his career despite his advanced age.
The former IBO welterweight champion Ali Funeka revealed this when he spoke for the first time loss to Australian boxer Jeff Horn last year in December
This is even though Funeka is now 39 years old.
“Every athlete knows their limit I have not yet reached mine,” he said.
After the boxer’s big loss many had already written him off saying he was too old to still be in the ring. But he said he will retire when he feels his body is feeling the burden of fighting until then he’s still good to go.
Many viewed his loss to Horn as his last stand in the ring especially as they were big fights in the horizon.
One of them was a jackpot of facing Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao had he won. Horn will now face Pacquiao in June.
However, Funeka said his loss could not be used as a yardstick progression of his career.
A three-time world lightweight title challenger, Funeka understands the dynamics of the sport centred around its unpredictability.
“At my age I have learnt that nothing is guaranteed in sport much less boxing so it is crucial for one to take each fight as it comes because winning and losing is all part of the game,” he says.
“So the outcome should not be used as a measure of someone’s career.
“I’m still an active boxer and I train hard and coach some young men to be great boxers themselves.”
The boxer said even if he had won the fight with Horn he would still not have given up boxing because he doesn’t feel his time is up yet.
For now he is expending his energy to mould future talent hoping to help produce another “Rush Hour”.
While he sees himself as a boxer he admits that he is not yet looking for a world title shot even though his name still carries weight to be used as a safe opponent for world champions to defend for the their titles.
“Currently there have been no talks of a world title fight but if it comes I’m open to the idea,” he said.
Funeka was scheduled to fight Grahamstown’s Mziwoxolo Ndwayana this past March but the fight failed to materialise leaving him frustrated after putting in hours in training.
He confirmed this as an inconvenience to his life because he had been training for something that is uncertain and he just wants the money he put towards the fight.
“When you train you change your diet and you train towards a certain goal and this is just inconvenient for me right now,” he said.
The boxer coaches 13 amateur boxers and said he hopes they also don’t give up on their dream of being the best boxers they can be even when no one believes in them they must do it for the love of the sport and also their country.
“I didn’t do boxing for people, I did it for myself and to represent my country and the next generation of boxers should do so as well,” he concluded.