Story audio is generated using AI<\/p>\n
Simnikiwe \u201cNuclear Bomb\u201d Bongco remains an unknown entity in the professional boxing ranks where he\u2019s had only five fights since he turned professional in 2024.<\/p>\n
A former amateur boxing star, a bronze medallist in the Commonwealth Games in England in 2022, quit the amateurs ahead of the Mandela Challenge in Durban in April 2024.<\/p>\n
SA National Amateur Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) was to use that continental five-day event to assess boxers\u2019 readiness for the last leg of the Olympic qualification, which was to take place in Thailand in May that year.<\/p>\n
Bongco had been part of the Sanabo team since 2017. His future in professional boxing does not spark enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
He does not regret relocating to Johannesburg but is certainly concerned about the snail\u2019s pace of his career.<\/p>\n
He has high regard for Peter Smith who has guided him to two wins, both by stoppages, in Aquila Boxing Promotion (ABP)\u2019s events<\/p>\n
Bongco will risk his No 4 rating against No 6 contender Sivenathi Nolawu over six rounds in the ABP\u2019s tournament at the Sandton Convention Centre on November 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I am gonna win the fight but it\u2019s not going to be a walk in the park,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked about his progress, he said: \u201cI am a point of calling out Jarred Silverman who I believe will be involved in an SA title fight ahead of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silverman, who is rated No 3 for the SA junior middleweight belt held by Brandon Thysse, will take on Stephanus Pypers over six rounds in an APB tourney next month.<\/p>\n
Bongco\u2019s situation leaves one wondering if he made a good decision to leave the amateurs, as he was on the verge of qualifying for the Olympics.<\/p>\n
A gifted fighter with 229 wins from 238 fights, Bongco would have qualified for the global showpiece.<\/p>\n
A full-time boxer, who is also looking after more than one mouth, Bongco needs action to also raise money to pay rent.<\/p>\n
Sowetan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Story audio is generated using AI Simnikiwe \u201cNuclear Bomb\u201d Bongco remains an unknown entity in the professional boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[508864,64,63,802,496720,508865,508866,85],"class_list":["post-941620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-amateur-to-professional-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-brandon-thysse","tag-olympic-boxing-qualification","tag-sivenathi-nolawu","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941620","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=941620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}