Outspoken former South African and world champion Bukiwe ‘Anaconda’ Nonina is spitting fire as she complained of being consistently ‘sidelined’ in the Rise of Women in Boxing series.
Nonina felt that she couldn’t keep quiet anymore after she saw a poster of the Tuesday, 17 December tournament, which is going to be promoted by Mvelo Promotions, at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall.
“I don’t know why things are like this. The same boxers keep fighting while we are sidelined. I only fought once in the series and it was Mom Joyce’s double header last year. I was already in Mom Joyce’s bill before she was awarded the right to host the series,” Nonina said.
“I was paid by her, not from the money which was given by BSA. These people don’t include us in their bills. That’s me, Nozipho (Bell), Simangele (Hadebe), Sharadene (Fortuin), Asandiswa (Nxokwana) and Razell (Mohamed). I don’t know why they keep sidelining us.”
Bell is the current SA female junior-lightweight titlist with Hadebe reigning in the flyweight division while Fortuin holds the national bantamweight crown and Mohamed is the SA cruiserweight female champion.
“Some boxers fight in all the legs of the series and it’s happening again. BSA is to blame for failing to check whether fairness is applied or not,” Nonina, a former SA and World Boxing Federation (WBF) female bantamweight champion, said. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
