Sivenathi ‘Special One’ Nontshinga’s push for a unification bout against Japanese boxer Kenshiro ‘The Amazing’ Teraji is making more sense, especially if you consider that it will take longer for Filipino boxer Christian ‘The Bomb’ Araneta to challenge him.
Araneta is the mandatory challenger for Nontshinga’s International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-flyweight title. However, a fight against Nontshinga is not going to happen anytime soon as Araneta is injured.
The Filipino southpaw’s left arm is in a cast, an injury that had been kept a secret for some time. That was so until photos of his injured left arm started to emerge.
“I can’t comment much on Araneta. However, from the pictures, he looks like he had undergone surgery,” Nontshinga’s trainer Colin ‘Nomakanjani’ Nathan said.
Ink Sport reached out to Araneta’s trainer Julius Erving Junco in an effort to get more information on the 29-year-old boxer’s injury. Unfortunately, Junco is yet to respond to messages sent to him.
Soon after Nontshinga regained his IBF title following a 10th round stoppage win over Mexican boxer Adrian Curiel Dominguez in Oaxaca, Mexico, almost three months, Araneta’s handlers called the Eastern Cape boxer to a rematch.
The 25-year-old Nontshinga outpointed Araneta in an elimination bout at the Boardwalk Casino in Gqeberha in April 2021. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
