WONDERGIRL TSHABALALA ON THE VERGE OF GLORY
Win over Phiri to open doors
THE boxing career of female pugilist Gabisile “Simply the Best” Tshabalala – which is flickering like a candle in the rain due to lack of fights – could flourish if she wins the WBC bantamweight belt from defending champion Zambian Catherine Phiri next month.
The wonder girl from Evaton in the Vaal will take on Phiri at the Convention Complex in Lusaka on August 27.
Tshabalala, 25, will go down in the annals of local women’s boxing since its inception in 2006 as the first South African to challenge for the most sought-after green and gold WBC belt.
Her skills are polished by trainer Elias Mpembe.
Victory will see Tshabalala hog the headlines for being the first SA woman to win the lucrative WBC belt.
But it was Noni “She Bee Stingin’” Tenge from Mdantsane in Eastern Cape who first won a legitimate world title – the IBF belt – in 2011.
Tenge already held the WBF belt and she added the WBF junior middleweight last year in becoming the first local female boxer to win three world titles in two weight categories.
Tshabalala, who won the WBC belt in January in Mexico, has nine wins, a loss and a draw.
Phiri – a former ABU and WBC Silver champion – has 11 wins against one loss.
Tshabalala will fight in her normal weight class, unlike in her previous bouts against Shannon O’Connell and Unathi Myekeni, where she had to fight out of her weight class due to desperation for action.
Tshabalala moved up to the junior featherweight division to face Bukiwe Nonina for the then-vacant SA belt due to lack of challenges in her bantamweight division. She beat Nonina, but succumbed to O’Connell in the 10th round for the WBF featherweight belt in Mpumalanga in 2013.
Tshabalala spent a year without action, and she accepted an offer to oppose Myekeni for the vacant WBF junior featherweight strap in Mpumalanga in August last year.
She gave her East London opponent a beating to capture the belt Myekeni lost in the boardroom a few years ago due to lack of challenges.
The offer for Tshabalala to challenge Phiri will coincide with South Africa celebrating Women’s Month.
Said Mpembe: “We knew about this fight in June. Luckily we were in training for a fight that was to take place in England in July. But it did not materialise.
“We continued training and it was a case of when one door closed, the other opened. Here we are challenging for a much bigger title. I am confident we will bring it back.”