The absence of Gqeberha-based boxing trainer Caiphus Ntante is going to give Thembelani Maphuma an opportunity to produce a champion when Owethu Rula faces Nozwelethu Mathontsi later this month.
The 25-year-old Rula is scheduled to challenge South African female junior-flyweight champion Mathontsi at the Orient Theatre in East London on Friday, 25 August.
Ntante will miss Rula’s fight as he will be manning Razell Mohamed’s corner when she challenges reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) female heavyweight champion Te Arani Moarana ‘Lani’ Daniels at the Eventfinda Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, the next day.
“Maphuma is going to be in Owethu’s corner during the fight against Mathontsi since I will be away in New Zealand together with Razell. Louis Phillips is going to assist Maphuma,” Ntante revealed.
Maphuma is a former South African junior-bantamweight champion, who is Ntante’s assistant at Caiph Camp in Gqeberha.
Meanwhile, Rula is going to the Mathontsi bout on the back of a win over Emihle Ntunja in an Eastern Cape flyweight title fight at the Wells Estate Multipurpose Centre, Gqeberha, in April.
Mdantsane-based Mathontsi, on the other hand, has not fought since her stoppage loss to Tanzanian opponent Halima Vunjabei at the Meropa Casino, Polokwane, in September 2021.
Mathontsi has been an SA champion for nine years having dethroned Lisbeth Sivhaga at the Orient Theatre in East London in June 2014. She has defended her title twice against Nthabiseng Didi.
