My 2-year ban has not been a waste of time – Matima
TWO years in the boxing wilderness can break the best of wills but not that of former SA featherweight champion Molefe Matima.
Bust for doping following his devastating second round knockout revenge defeat of Simphiwe Tom in 2011, Matima will finally return to the ring after serving his two-year suspension when he takes on former foe Mbulelo Transvaal at the OR Tambo Hall in Mthatha on July 27.
The time he spent away from the ring has been challenging for the 30-year-old who had the ignominy of being labelled a cheat and had to forfeit his SA crown.
But the Duncan Village-born North West-based fighter chose to use his time away from boxing productively by enrolling for a diploma in fitness to learn more about the banned substances and the scientific aspects of sport in general.
“What befell me was unfortunate but I do not want to dwell on the past,” Matima said.
“I chose to learn from the mistake hence I enrolled for a course that would give me more insight into drugs and other related issues.”
The eloquent boxer is currently in the second year of his studies and has been fortunate enough to be hired as a fitness trainer at the high performance centre of the Carltonville mine in the North West.
This has exposed him to the scientific side of the sport to put what he learns from his studies into practice.
Besides studying, Matima who was born in Duncan Village from a Xhosa-speaking father and a Sotho mother and insists using Odwa as one of his names, used the time off to get married and was blessed with a son.
Although he is not burying his head in the sand, he is grateful he can resume his boxing career to make up for the two years’ hiatus.
“It has been two years wasted in the ring but in life things have not been half bad for me.”
Matima, who has never been consistently active as he averaged only two fights per year, dismisses the perception of falling prey to ring rust.
He insists the featherweight division which he left while perched at the top has not changed much since his title reign came crashing down.
Indeed the division has not had a permanent successor with his title changing hands three times to land in the lap of Amalinda’s Aphiwe Mboyiya.
Matima does not want to knock down Mboyiya’s title reign but there is no denying the young champion cannot be mentioned in the same league as the devastating former king. “I met Mboyiya when I was down in East London and all I can say is I am back to reclaim what is mine,” he said.
Matima is one of those rare boxers who can easily express themselves, with his baritone voice giving him a perception of being older than he actually is.
An engineering graduate, the boxer also seems to be well versed about what he needs to do to get back to the boxing summit thanks to his studies and his job.
“I have learnt a lot here and what I can say is we boxers lag far behind when it comes to sports science,” he argues. For instance I work with a biochemist, dieticians etc and that is foreign to boxers.
“For instance I believe Joyi [Nkosinathi] would have done better in his fight against Hekkie Budler had he been exposed to sports science.”
Indeed Joyi had a weight problem going into the Budler bout as it kept dropping and would try to increase it by lining up meal after meal.
Matima argues that increasing weight by eating without a controlled diet is disastrous as witnessed in Joyi’s sluggish performance. “I can tell you now that when Joyi fights again I will personally take care of him and you will see a huge difference.”
While he wants to educate his peers about the modern way of training, Matima also has his own career to consider. He knows he will have to produce a stupendous performance against Transvaal whom he stopped in two rounds in 2009.
“I want to be a world champion and I have already laid the ground work by studying and detecting the strengths and weaknesses of the current champions.”
While he wants to return to the featherweights, Matima does not rule out the possibility of campaigning as heavy as the lightweights if the opportunity arises.
He already spars with junior-middleweights under the watchful eye of Pule Moshodi with whom he has reunited after being unable to regularly attend Nick Durandt’s gymnasium in Johannesburg.
But he insists he has not cut ties with Durandt.
At 30 he is at an age when most boxing careers are winding down but he has to fast-track it to make up for lost time.
After the July 21 bout he is lined up to feature in shows in September and December.
While his return will be awaited with bated breath, Matima whose previous loss to Tom is the only blemish in his 12 fights with eight stoppages, promises to unleash bolts and thunder in the ring in a similar manner he displayed against Tom in his revenge victory.
“If you think I was explosive against Tom you have not seen anything yet,” he says.
While he has already beaten Transvaal he does not underestimate him primarily because he does not even recall his fighting style.
“It is like I will be fighting a new opponent because I have no recollection of how he is.
“That makes him dangerous because I think he will gunning for revenge and you saw what revenge drove to me to do to Tom in our rematch.”
The fight will be presented by Mamali Promotions in association with the OR Tambo District Municipality.