Magwaza a winner even before getting into the ring
● Win or lose on Thursday night, Mzuvukile Magwaza is guaranteed a triumph just by climbing into the ring to resume a boxing career that was left shattered by a bullet four years ago.
The unbeaten 31-year-old takes on Sanele Maduna on the undercard of the ESPN show in Johannesburg, but that bout will carry as much interest as the two co-main bouts, both SA title fights.
Magwaza, who last fought in December 2017, was world-ranked when he was shot in the left thigh during a robbery at his Khayelitsha home in early 2018.
The bone was completely shattered. Three surgeries and a mountain of determination later, Magwaza is fit to climb through the ropes to pick up his dream of becoming a world champion.
Yet there was a time he couldn’t imagine this moment.
“My doctors are not surprised,” he told the Sunday Times from his Cape Town base this week. “They told me the first week I was in the hospital that ‘you will be able to run and walk and box again, but it will take a long, long time to heal’. They’re not surprised.
“I’m the one who’s surprised because I couldn’t believe them, what they were telling me. ‘Nah man, you’re playing with me,’ I thought.”
After testing the waters with an exhibition fight in December, Magwaza’s rehabilitation is complete, after learning to adapt to a left leg which is 2cm shorter than his right.
“My leg will never be the same again, will never be 100%. The bone was totally broken, I’m walking with a pin in my leg. Maybe I can say my leg is 98%.
“But I’m happy with how it is now. There’s no pain anymore, my leg is feeling strong and I have my balance back,” he said, adding one has to look carefully to notice a slight limp while he walks.
Magwaza admits he is emotional. “If I love something too much I end up crying. If I feel happy I end up crying. I must fight back the tears on Thursday because it’ll drain my energy if I cry too much,” the father of two said with a laugh.
It’ll be as emotional for ring announcer Dev Currer, who played a large role in helping Magwaza in the wake of the attack. He worked the ring at the exhibition bout. “I legit cried,” Currer said.
Magwaza admitted he too was prone to waterworks that day. “But I had to control it. Coach [Mike Mouneimne] told me ‘if you’re emotional too much, you’ll drain your energy’. So I must be careful.”
“Old Bones” Magwaza has 20 wins and three draws, but he’s being carefully matched against an opponent with four victories and a draw. “I have nothing to prove,” he said.
“I’ve been there, I’ve done it, I have nothing to prove to anyone. I’m confident to show people I’ve still got this, I can box, and show my opponent that Magwaza is still there. I’m not just an old man.”
The two main fights will feature SA champions, super-middleweight Cowin Ray and strawweight Bangile Nyangani.