Johannesburg-based boxing trainer Charrit Mukondeleli has remembered the late Emil Brice, who passed away at his Ottery, Cape Town, home, aged 66 early on Thursday morning.
Mukondeleli has described Brice, who was a veteran boxing trainer and a former professional boxer, as a very kind person. Brice had been ill for some time before he lost his battle against cancer.
“Uncle Emil was a good man. I met him in Ethiopia on our way to Russia in March 2021. His boxer Lunga Sitemela and my boxer Koos Sibiya were fighting in the same bill in Ekaterinburg. He was very nice to all of us and he loved all his boxers,” Mukondeleli remembered.
“When we arrived in Moscow, we discovered that he had booked us at a hotel as we had to wait eight hours before proceeding to Ekaterinburg. We used to call each other even when he was in hospital.”
Meanwhile, Emil had a winning start as a boxer defeating Org Slabbert in his professional debut in March 1978 and his last fight was a loss to Bobby Chisale in April 1983.
He was in Lunga Sitemela’s corner when he beat Sibusiso Zingange by a 10th round stoppage to win the South African junior-lightweight title in May 2022.
Emil also led Sitemela to World Boxing Federation (WBF) junior-lightweight title glory after a third round knockout victory over Botswana’s Steve Bagwasi in Gaborone in June 2023.