Two-time South African champion Siphamandla ‘Toy Toy’ Baleni has switched camps, leaving Paradise Boxing Club to join forces with Amanda ‘Jahman’ Magatya as his new trainer at United Boxing Club in Mdantsane.
Baleni, a former SA minimumweight and junior-flyweight titlist, had been a member of Thembelani ‘Shakes’ Hlombe’s Paradise Boxing Club for more than a year before his recent switch to Magatya’s stable.
“Baleni has crossed the floor. He’s been training with me since the beginning of this month. He told me that he left Shakes’ stable. You will remember that Shakes had asked for his boxers to come spar with my boxers on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Magatya said.
Baleni was rated in the top 10 in the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) before he lost to Uzbekistan boxer Hasanboy Dusmatov in November last year.
Mthatha-born Baleni was rated ninth in both the WBC and the WBO while the IBF rated him in eighth spot before his defeat by the 2016 Olympic gold medallist.
