By Monwabisi Jimlongo
The feeling of making a comeback to the ring after more than a year of inactivity was difficult to ignore when Azinga ‘Golden Boy’ Fuzile spoke following his fourth round technical knockout win over Emmanuel Amos Stephano from Tanzania at the Whittlesea Multipurpose Hall in Sada on Sunday evening.
The 27-year-old Fuzile didn’t disappoint the fight fans who endured a late start to the tournament as well as loadshedding midway through the event.
“I’m happy, I feel good. The reason why I’m happy is that I’m back to the square ring where everyone was saying there was no more Azinga since I’ve lost the fight to (Kenichi) Ogawa,” Fuzile said.
“I fought the other guy from Malawi, I stopped him. I was inactive for a long time, maybe they were saying my career is over. I showed everyone that it’s not over.”
The Duncan Village-born one-time world title contender believes that the Tanzanian gave him too much respect inside the ring.
“I think the guy respected my name. Maybe he saw videos of mine and the record. I can’t say he was tough. He was taking my punches. He didn’t want to give up. I kept pushing him to give up. I was making sure that every punch I was throwing was very effective,” Fuzile said.
Fuzile insisted that the knockout was not part of his fight plans. It just came because of the pressure he exerted on his opponent.
“It was not a plan. Just we were here to take out the ring rust and put my mind back to boxing and showed people that I’m still here as Azinga. I was fighting a person who was not giving me tough time to think. I was just doing whatever I was told in my corner. So, it was like a sparring,” Fuzile remarked.
Meanwhile, the former South African featherweight champion revealed that he will fight again in the first quarter of next year.
“I’m gonna fight in March, maybe in East London. Maybe after that fight we will see what’s next,” he said.
On whether he aspires to challenge for the South African junior-lightweight title which is held by Asanda Gingqi, Fuzile said: “I cannot challenge Gingqi for the South African title because I’m not rated. I don’t even think Gingqi would accept my challenge. For me, what’s important is to be recognised internationally. I have bigger dreams.”
