Ndulani and Cengani quit boxing after disastrous Mexican trip
Two SA boxing careers ended with a whimper in Mexico at the weekend when one of only two of the country’s world champions and his manager announced their retirement from the sport.
IBO mini-flyweight champion Ayanda Ndulani announced he was quitting boxing shortly after his fourth-round knockout loss to Luis Castillo in a WBC world title eliminator in Cancun early on Saturday morning (SA time).
Before then his manager, Kholisile “KC ” Cengani, who accompanied him to Mexico, had revealed that the bout would be his last as he had retired from active boxing involvement.
In a fight preceded by out-of-the-ring shenanigans including long connecting flights by the SA team and being sent from pillar to post for hotel accommodation amid a severely reduced purse, Ndulani threw in the towel, opting to focus on his day job.
Ndulani went to the fight demoralised having endured a chaotic trip which was made worse when he and Cengani were taken to two wrong hotels in the wee hours.
It was no surprise when the East London boxer was floored in the very first round but fought on bravely until he was knocked out three rounds later.
The fight proved to be a lose-lose situation for the Scenery Park boxer as he automatically forfeited his IBO crown the moment he stepped into the ring to contest a bout sanctioned by another world body.
As if that was not enough, Ndulani was told that sanctioning fees would be docked from his already reduced purse, leaving him with virtually nothing to justify going to Mexico.
All the challenges combined to convince the 31-year-old that continuing with boxing was not worth it.
“You could see when Ndulani went to the ring that his mind was no longer in boxing,” Cengani said.
“All these shenanigans exploded to make him lose interest and I could not blame him.
“He told me that he would retire from boxing and as someone who had already taken a decision to also leave the sport, it was hard to convince him otherwise.”
The bout marked the first time both Ndulani and Cengani went abroad and the language barrier in the Latin American country proved a stumbling block even when they were fetched from the airport after landing in Cancun from Mexico City.
They had flown from SA on Monday to catch a connecting flight in Amsterdam which took them to Mexico City.
They were then taken to two wrong hotels early on Wednesday morning before finding their own way to the correct one.
“By that time we were dog tired and not mentally ready for a fight,” Cengani said.
The bad trip did not even end after the fight as the SA duo discovered that they would have to remain in Mexico two days after the bout as their return flight to SA had only been booked for Sunday.
Cengani insisted that he would not change his mind about his decision to retire while Ndulani, who suffered his third loss in 17 bouts, is also determined to walk away from the sport to focus on his day job. —