South African bantamweight champion Ronald Malindi is fighting for his life in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a Johannesburg hospital after he was allegedly shot twice in the head on Tuesday afternoon.
Malindi, who skipped training for a couple of weeks, only returned to his trainer Sean Smith’s gym on Tuesday and promised to work harder. And a few hours later, Malindi was shot in Westbury where he grew up.
“It’s terrible, I’m heartbroken,” Smith said when contacted on Tuesday evening.
Malindi was due to have defended his SA title for the fifth time in a fight against Lusizo Manzana at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in East London two months ago.
However, that fight never took place after Smith had a disagreement with Rumble Africa Promotions (RAP) regarding bringing his assistant to East London.
