Bay boxer’s Games dream
NELSON Mandela Bay flyweight amateur boxer Siyabulela Mpongoshe will be flying the Eastern Cape flag high at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia. The games run from April 5 to 15. Mpongoshe is one of only two South African amateur boxers – and the only one from the Eastern Cape – to have qualified for the games. He has an incredible record, having lost only 10 fights out of the 111 bouts he has fought during his career. The 22-year-old, of Veeplaas, is ranked sixth in Africa and 38th in the world. His mission is to return home with a gold medal around his neck. “This is my first Commonwealth Games trip,” Mpongoshe said. “I am very excited and my aim is to win all my fights by knockout until the final, because with how my training went I see no reason for me to lose any fight.
“My wish is to come back home with the gold medal and nothing less. I am very confident that I will achieve that.”
According to Mazizandile Vumazonke, manager and coach at the Thubalethu Boxing Club in Uitenhage, a boxer has to be ranked among the top 10 amateur boxers in Africa to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.
During the Zone 4 Africa Championships in Angola in April last year, Mpongoshe fought his way to a silver medal.
In June, he came back from the Africa Cup in Congo with a bronze medal, which saw him in eighth place on the African rankings.
His gold medal, which he collected at the Zone 4 African Champs earlier in the year in Mozambique, pushed his rankings to sixth place on the continent.
Vumazonke said he was also confident that Mpongoshe would come back with the top honours at the games.
“He is the first boxer to qualify to go to the Commonwealth Games in my stable, but I have two boxers in the national team. I am very happy about his achievement, because this is in line with our strategic plan as a club.
“Our vision for 2020 is to have a boxer who will qualify for the Olympic Games. So far we are on the right track to achieve that vision.
“The management, coaches and all the members of the club are happy,” he said.
“We have prepared very well. He knows that when we are going for the championships or any tournament, you win the fight at training.
“We have done all our preparations, so it’s up to him now to deliver. Otherwise he should be consistent, because the trip to Mozambique was a test as to how ready he is to bring that gold.
“It shows that he is ready to compete at world standard.”