Huge relief after champ recovers
THE local boxing fraternity breathed a collective sigh of relief after newly crowned Eastern Cape flyweight champion Simnikiwe Combo regained consciousness after collapsing in the ring on Sunday.
Combo was rushed to Cecilia Makiwane Hospital after collapsing in the ring and slipping into a coma following his fight with Nkosikhona Speelman at the Mdantsane Indoor Centre.
They were fighting for the vacant provincial crown in a tournament organised by Mecca Promotions and attended by, among others, provincial sports MEC Pemmy Majodina and Gauteng boxing legend Dingaan Thobela.
After an absorbing a 10-round contest, which saw both boxers trading heavy leather, Combo collapsed in his corner.
This after being announced as the winner of the fight.
He was put on a stretcher and rushed to hospital by an ambulance on standby.
This caused the tournament to be delayed by close to an hour until the ambulance returned.
Boxing SA-Eastern Cape manager Phakamile Jacobs said according to the regulations the tournament could not resume without an ambulance on standby.
“We needed to wait for the ambulance to return before resuming the tournament,” he said.
The 21-year-old Combo who was fighting for the eighth time, having lost twice, eventually regained consciousness but had no recollection of what had taken place.
His trainer Thulani Mhlubulwana said doctors said he had internal swelling in his head.
“The doctors were yet to decide on whether he should be operated on or allow the swelling to subside on its own,” he said.
“We are relieved that he has regained consciousness although he seemed to have partially lost his memory because for instance he did not know that he won the fight until we told him.”
Combo was still in hospital yesterday when boxing stakeholders including Jacobs visited him.
There were concerns that Combo could be yet another ring death statistics especially as the death of Botswana-born Mdantsane-trained Herbet Nkibiti is still fresh in the minds of the boxing fraternity.
Nkibiti died after his bout in Johannesburg three months ago.
The rest of the tournament eventually continued with Mdantsaneborn Lwandile Sityatha making his ring return after an absence of a year when he beat Cleutus Mbhele of Johannesburg on points in a junior-bantamweight clash.
Now trained by Colin Nathan in Johannesburg, Sityatha seemed to be ring rusty as he hardly put a sustained attack together.
In another bout for world title challenger Siyabonga Siyo snapped his two-bout losing streak when he outscored Mzwabantu Dabaza in their juniorflyweight duel.
The show drew a full house at the Mdantsane Centre with all the bouts providing thrilling action.