Boxing trainer Phumzile ‘Sweet Chocolate’ Matyhila has picked up a few things that he believes need to be worked on as he plans to take former South African junior-flyweight champion Nhlanhla ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’ Tyirha back to where he was before as they started working together a few days ago.
Mdantsane-born Tyirha turned his back on East London and relocated to Johannesburg to join the 48-year-old 2000 Olympian as his trainer earlier this week. Tyirha has not fought since he was stunned by Malawian George Kandulo, who stopped him in the eighth round at a Rumble Africa Promotions (RAP) tournament, at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC) in July last year.
“He’s welcome here. I’m very happy he’s here to work with us. What I know is that he has approached his fights or opponents with a backfoot, nothing wrong with that. I will try to sit down with him and show him that he’s always on his toes when he’s on the back foot. That results in his blows having no impact,” Matyhila said.
Matyhila, who is a former SA bantamweight champion, added: “We want his blows to have an impact. We want him to walk while moving, not run. Another thing we will look at is his power. We want to see what will happen if we push our opponents.”
Meanwhile, Tyirha was until December last year trained by former World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Organisation (IBO) featherweight champion Simphiwe Vetyeka at the Paradise Boxing Club in Nxarhuni.
