Story audio is generated using AI<\/p>\n
The rise of SA champions on the international stage reminds us that the flame of boxing in this country was never extinguished, says Tshegofatso Thobedi.<\/p>\n
Boxing SA\u2019s communications and media liaison officer said: \u201c[The flame] flickered through difficult seasons, endured through changing times, and continued to burn in the gyms, community halls and boxing clubs where fighters kept showing up, day after day. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow, a new generation is picking up the torch, and South African fighters are stepping onto the world stage, taking on the best, winning on the biggest nights and putting the country\u2019s name back among boxing\u2019s elite.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time in SA boxing history, the country has three World Boxing Council (WBC) world champions \u2014 Siyakholwa \u201cOne Way\u201d Kuse, Bernice \u201cThe Badger\u201d Ferreira and Ricardo \u201cMagic Man\u201d Malajika.<\/p>\n
Kuse holds the mini flyweight belt; Ferreira is the junior-lightweight female champ, and Malajika has just captured the junior-bantamweight belt.<\/p>\n
Kuse and Malajika are trained by Manny Fernandes and managed by Brian Mitchell. Golden Gloves promotes the champions.<\/p>\n
Ferreira is trained by Arafat Koch, while Colin \u201cNomakanjani\u201d Nathan\u2019s No Doubt Management guides her career. <\/p>\n
All these champions were produced this year. SA\u2019s success in producing WBC champions follows the visit in May by WBC president Mauricio Sulaim\u00e1n.<\/p>\n
The Mexican was ringside at Emperor\u2019s Palace when Kuse dethroned Melvin Jerusalem. Sulaiman was invited by Golden Gloves CEO Rodney Berman.<\/p>\n
Sulaiman met with sports minister Gayton McKenzie, BSA chairperson Ayanda Khumalo, and CEO Tsholofelo Lejaka.<\/p>\n
During their discussions, Sulaim\u00e1n promised to give local fighters opportunities to fight for WBC belts. <\/p>\n
Kuse, Ferreira and Malajika grabbed those opportunities with both hands and proved that the talent and hunger that once made this country a boxing powerhouse are still here.<\/p>\n
Ferreira became SA\u2019s first woman WBC world champion after defeating Canada\u2019s Caroline Veyre in Atlanta. <\/p>\n
Malajika won his belt in Japan, defeating homeboy Tomoya Tsuboi by split decision.<\/p>\n
Sowetan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Story audio is generated using AI The rise of SA champions on the international stage reminds us that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":923535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,317717,138532,317716,317718,82],"class_list":["post-923534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-female-boxing-champion-africa","tag-golden-gloves-promotion","tag-nelson-mandela-boxing-tournament","tag-ricardo-malajika-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}