Uphill battle for boxer Find out why on
Lock-turned-boxer who wears size 16 shoes, is nearly two metres tall and comes in at 130kg
● Rugby lock-turned-boxer Wilhelm Nebe has played in the boots of Springbok forward Lood de Jager, but he’ll have to don his regular ol’ tekkies when he makes his professional debut in Durban on Friday night.
At 1.99m tall and weighing about 130kg, the business management student at North West University should hold all the aces, but finding boxing shoes to fit his size-16 feet has been impossible to date.
Nebe begins his paid campaign in a fourrounder on a Fox Sports Africa tournament at the Sibaya casino. He’s on the undercard, but one of the main bouts will feature the silky skills of Nebe’s stablemate and sparring partner, Akani Phuzi, the WBA Pan Africa cruiserweight title-holder.
Phuzi, a six-time national amateur champion, is making the first defence of his belt against unbeaten Nigerian Affini Abiodun. Both men can move and they like using the jab, the weapon of a true boxer; this should be a fistic chess match.
Nebe’s contest against Malawian Gilson Jupiters, also making his debut, will probably be settled by brawn.
Nebe is still learning the basics of the craft. He won gold at the SA championships in his fifth amateur bout some four months back, despite struggling with footwear.
He wore a pair of trail shoes that were too big for him at size 18. “They were clunky. Each shoe weighed 2kg — I know because I weighed them,” said Nebe, who actually tripped over them in one of his three fights at the championships. “They had no size 15s, 16s or 17s,” he added.
He’s used to such tribulations.
He was struggling for rugby boots at one stage when he was part of the Cheetahs under-19 set-up a couple of years ago.
A coach arranged a pair of De Jager’s old spikes. “They lasted me about half a season,” Nebe recalled. “My right foot tore right through the boot in one game.”
His large feet also created curiosity at school. After one match he counted 64 kids who asked for photos of his feet.
All five of Nebe’s amateur fights didn’t go past the first round, but he was pilloried on social media for his wild style in the final.
He resembled a clumsy tornado as he chased his opponent around the ring, firing off punches without trying to set himself.
“You can say what you want, I won,” said Nebe.
Trainer Alan Toweel Jnr is trying to drill some technique into that massive frame. “I’ve got to build him up slowly, he’s very raw,” Toweel said.
“We’ll take it one fight at a time — he’s got
The boots lasted me about half a season. My right foot tore right through the boot in one game Wilhelm Nebe
Heavyweight boxer
so much to learn.” Toweel, who loves boxing history as much as he does ring strategy, was chatting about a fighter of decades gone by who had got “fat and lazy” after winning a world title.
From the other side of the gym Nebe asked: “Who’s fat and lazy?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not talking about you,” retorted Toweel with a straight face.
SA enjoyed a golden era of heavyweight boxing that stretched from Gerrie Coetzee and Kallie Knoetze in the 1970s to Corrie Sanders and Frans Botha.
But there’s been a notable dearth of talent in the division since then, with one popular theory being that the big men switched to rugby when it became professional.
Nebe is moving in the opposite direction. He quit rugby after losing his bursary, a casualty of the collapse of Varsity Rugby sponsor Steinhoff. “It wasn’t just me, it was a lot of guys.”
He did a bit of gymnastics and cheerleading at varsity — as a kid he was even keen to try ballet (his mom vetoed that) — but when he packed rugby in, he was drawn to boxing.
With no gyms in Potchefstroom, Nebe must drive to Johannesburg for each training session. He has no shortage of enthusiasm.
“I want to be the best I can be.”