Cape Town occupies a special place in the heart of Johannesburg-based boxing trainer Colin Nathan.
However, that is not going to stop Nathan from ensuring that his boxers Azinga ‘Golden Boy’ Fuzile and Lerato ‘Lights Out’ Dlamini emerge victorious in their fights against Cape Town opponents at the Orient Theatre in East London next Sunday.
Nathan is going to usher Fuzile into war when the former South African featherweight champion faces Lunga Sitemela from Cape Town in a 10-round junior-lightweight fight.
It’s going to be a busy afternoon for the Cape Town-born trainer as he will also be in the corner of Dlamini when he squares up against Toto Helebe from the Mother City in another 10 rounder.
‘‘I’m a Capetonian having been born there. Cape Town has a special place in my heart as it is where I was introduced to boxing,’’ Nathan said.
‘‘Look, I have a job to do and that is to lead my boxers to victory on Sunday. This is business and I’m going to East London to win.’’
A lot has been said on social media about Fuzile’s fight against Sitemela where some boxing lovers, especially those from Cape Town, believe that their unbeaten boy will give his Duncan Village-born foe his second loss in the paid ranks.
The highly-rated Fuzile lost for the first time when he was floored in the eighth round by Tajikistani Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-lightweight elimination bout in East London last year.
‘‘I don’t want to talk too much about the fights as people have said a lot on social media,’’ said Nathan.
‘‘I, however, expect two tough fights and victories for my fighters as I’m confident that they are going to do the job inside the ring. I take my craft and work very serious and I have worked very hard to be where I am.’’
Sunday’s tournament, promoted by Rumble Africa Promotions, is going to be held behind closed doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Nathan is not worried about having his boxers fighting in front of empty seats.
‘‘I have not really discussed with my boxers how fighting in front of empty seats might affect them. However, I must add that they are used to fighting in front of almost empty seats as they did that during their amateur days,’’ he said.
Written by Monwabisi Jimlongo
