Mantengu to ‘let fists do the talking’
Unfit Machimana hits a new low
Innocent “Tycoon” Mantengu has refused to be drawn into trading verbal barbs with Ayabonga “Jay Jay” Sonjica. Mantengu’s South African junior-featherweight boxing title will be at stake against talkative Sonjica at East London’s Orient Theatre next weekend. Mantengu, from Mtubatuba in KwaZulu-Natal, will bid for the first defence of the title he won in June in a rematch with Thato “Captain Charisma” Bonokoane in Kagiso.
“I don’t want to show immaturity by engaging in talks with Sonjica. Boxing is art and science, which requires brains, not talking.
“I am prepared, though, to say that I will let my fists do the real talking inside the ring. Talking too much will never help me during the fight,” Mantengu said. Sonjica, from the Eastern Cape, is the mandatory challenger, which means that he is the No 1 contender to the throne.
Sonjica, who is trained in Johannesburg by Sean Smith, did not mince his words when he said the champion will be delivering the title to him when they clash in one of the bouts that will be organised by Rumble Africa Promotions. “There is no way that Mantengu will beat me; I bet my last penny,” promised Sonjica, who is chasing the belt that was once held by his older brother Thabo, who vacated it after winning the IBO strap.
The champion, who is trained in Johannesburg by his home boy Samson Ndlovu, has 13 wins in 18 fights while Sonjica is undefeated after eight fights.
There will be two more title fights and the IBF junior lightweight elimination fight between Sonjica’s home boy Azinga Fuzile and Russian Shavkhatzdhon Rakhimov. Meanwhile, Boxing SA will have to revoke the professional boxing licence of washed-up 40-year-old former SA heavyweight champion Osborne “Big Daddy” Machimana.
The fighter was alarmingly shapeless in his first-round stoppage loss to 10-fight novice Zhan Kossobutskiy in Russia on Tuesday.
That defeat was Machimana’s third consecutive knockout loss.