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of her ambitions in leadership and on women empowerment either in athleticism or administration, Dlamini disputed any interest in becoming a future IBA president, but rather AFBC president.

“In life we must learn not to rush things or power as that may be your downfall. So I am not even dreaming about being IBA president; not now, not in the near future. It’s very important that I mature enough in this position as a member of the Board of Directors. Build all the connections and networks.

“What may happen though is that I do see myself becoming the next African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) President in the next AFBC Elections and that may then give me an automatic slot into the IBA Board of Directors for another term. That way, I would gain more knowledge, experience and understanding of boxing at this level. For now, I want to remain humble and allow myself to learn in the process,” Dlamini said.

She further noted the limited number of women involved in boxing on the African continent, saying that the women in boxing agenda would improve with the ambitions that the Woman Boxing Commission (WBC) had in terms of implementing marker king programmes, empowerment and mentoring, as well as attracting and retaining women in boxing.

“We do not have a lot of women involved in boxing in our continent. We still fail to attract and retain women. Main reasons are; lack of funding to support women boxing initiatives, cultural beliefs kick in as a major barrier, lack of confidence from women to take up leadership positions in boxing, resources and attention being given to the male boxers programme,” she said.

For the development of boxing in Africa, Dlamini said she needed to rally all support from her fellow Board members to give special attention to the women boxing activities planned, so that Africa could be given priority, starting with developing countries such as her home country Eswatini.