By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Politics, greed and jealousy among rival promoters are behind former world champion Xolisani ‘Nomeva’ Ndongeni’s decision to consider throwing in the towel and quit boxing, a sport he loves the most.
The former International Boxing Organisation (IBO) lightweight title holder, who made his professional debut while he was still a Duncan Village resident, has thought long and hard about his future thus his unexpected decision to slowly withdraw from the fistic sport.
“There is a lot that is happening in South African boxing. There is too much greed and politics involved boxing. All these things that are happening are driving me away because I cannot take it anymore,” Ndongeni said.
KwaBhaca-born Ndongeni has alleged that some promoters whom he didn’t mention by name have indirectly fought against boxers, who are promoted by his promoter Joyce Kungwane of TLB Boxing Promotions. Ndongeni has been promoted by TLB Boxing Promotions in the last two years.
“There are people who are fighting my promoter. Whoever fights my promoter indirectly fights against me. This is so because I won’t get fights when my promoter doesn’t stage tournaments due to people fighting her,” he said.
“Thankfully, my promoter has another source of income and I really don’t know how she would cope if she was only doing boxing promotion. I have heard some of these promoters saying that they are doing things for the love of boxing yet they continue to hurt us. What kind of love is that? I’m talking about adults who don’t consider us young people when they fight against each other.”
Interestingly, Ndongeni still believes that Dicksy Ngqula, the founder of the now-defunct Premier Boxing League (PBL), genuinely loved boxers even though the former boxing commentator still owes him a lot of money.
“Dicksy, for all what he did to me, was here for us boxers. He was paying boxers R60 000 for a six-round fight. The promoters fought him because he had brought something new into boxing,” Ndongeni remarked.
“One time I was offered a fight and I asked for a R300 000 purse and I was told to go to hell because they didn’t want to pay me that kind of money. I had thought that they were going to ask me to negotiate with them instead of dismissing me. Another time I was offered a fight and I asked for a R150 000 purse. The promoter told me that that was too much. The promoter even told me that he was going to pay two boxers’ purses with that amount of money. I’ve been to hell and back in this boxing.”
The 31-year-old Ndongeni is adamant that he will be able to eke out a living should he finally decide to quit boxing. He has more than 100 clients that he trains at his gym in Midrand.
“I’m busy training people at my gym. I have 129 clients that I’m training. Last month alone I got 27 clients who signed for two years,” the former South African junior-lightweight and lightweight champion said.
