SA\u2019s oldest active professional boxer, Bongani \u201cWonderboy\u201d Mahlangu, turns 47 on July 10, but retirement from the fistic sport is not in his plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still run 21km every morning with ease,\u201d he said yesterday. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is still fire in the tank. My target is 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI still want to reclaim the SA junior-featherweight title I lost to Siyabulela Hem in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahlangu won that belt at 42 from Ayabonga \u201cJay Jay\u201d Sonjica in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never had weight issues when preparing for a fight since I began fighting professionally due to my discipline and clean living.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahlangu and his younger brother and boxing manager, Sandile Mahlangu, hone the skills of amateurs at their Wonderboy Boxing Gym in Boipatong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t just train fighters, but I train with them so that we share the same pain,\u201d said the former SA, WBO and IBF International and ABU junior-featherweight champion who has boxed more than 300 rounds in 38 professional fights.<\/p>\n
Mahlangu, who represented SA in the 2003 All Africa Games in Nigeria, the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the Commonwealth Games in 2006 in Melbourne, plays football in the amateur ranks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is where I check my fitness level,\u201d he said, adding he plays for Boipatong Masters (Sundays) and also Nampark Football Club (Saturdays).<\/p>\n
Asked where he draws his strength from, he said: \u201cMy lifestyle has been my biggest asset; I don\u2019t smoke cigarettes, I don\u2019t drink alcohol, I don\u2019t take energy boosters and I come as I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
A devoted Rastafarian, Mahlangu said he does not smoke dagga.<\/p>\n
His firstborn son, 22-year-old Bhekizizwe \u201cDr Sleep\u201d Maitse, is also a professional boxer.<\/p>\n
Maitse represented SA in the inaugural WBC Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia last year and the ABU SADC champion lost in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
Said Mahlangu: \u201cI urge young boys to stop being copycats, get their priorities right and live a clean life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how I am raising Bhekizizwe because this is how our father [former pro boxer Joshua Mahlangu] raised us,\u201d said Mahlangu, who has 26 wins and 12 losses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SA\u2019s oldest active professional boxer, Bongani \u201cWonderboy\u201d Mahlangu, turns 47 on July 10, but retirement from the fistic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,242914,178129,242913,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-477204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-boxing-manager","12":"tag-featherweight-champion","13":"tag-sa-junior-featherweight","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}