Boxing fans to join hands in tribute to ex-world champ Sityatha

Boxing fans are expected to converge on the NU1 Community Hall in Mdantsane on Thursday to bid farewell to former world boxing champion Lwandile Sityatha.

The event will be a memorial service for the fighter whose death a fortnight ago sent shock waves through the boxing fraternity.

He died in Mdantsane’s Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, where he was admitted after being seriously injured in a car accident a few days earlier.

Sityatha was only 34 and still active as a boxer, though he had not renewed his licence for this year.

Born in Weza village in Willowvale, Sityatha and his young brother Miniyakhe learnt to box on the mines, where their father worked.

Lwandile progressed all the way to the final of the Baby Champs development programme before moving to Mdantsane, where his career took off.

He won a slew of titles, including the SA flyweight belt, as well as the IBO world junior bantamweight crown by beating Filipino Edrin Dapudong.

Miniyakhe, whose own promising career was cut short by a medical condition, said his brother would be buried at his Weza home on Saturday.

“We have decided as a family to lay him to rest on Saturday,” he said.

“We want to thank the boxing family and people at large for their support during this dark day as a family.

“Losing my brother is hard enough, but to lose him like this feels like a double-edged sword. “But through the messages of support, we have found comfort to at least concentrate on making sure that everything is going to plan.”

Renowned boxing matchmaker Luyanda Kana, whose Ubuntu Boxing Fraternity helps destitute boxing families, said the memorial service for Sityatha would be held on Thursday to give fans who would not be able to attend the funeral an opportunity to bid goodbye to the fallen fighter.

“Lwandile thrilled boxing fans during his fights and was a vital component in the evolving of the sport in the East London region,” he said.

“This is why we decided to give people a platform to celebrate his life and thank his family for lending us him.”

The memorial service start at 4pm.