The first two months of 2024 are going to be very important and might set the tone for what will happen in South African boxing as the country is looking at having a legitimate world champion once again.
Already, four South African boxers have confirmed dates in North America, Asia, Europe and Central America in the first two months of the coming year.
SA boxing starts the year with former national champion Xolisani ‘Nomeva’ Ndongeni fighting against American boxer Arnold Barboza Junior in Las Vegas in the United States on Saturday, 6 January 2024 (Sunday, 7 January, South African time).
Ndongeni will try to dethrone the unbeaten World Boxing Organisation (WBO) Intercontinental junior-welterweight champion. The former SA junior-lightweight and lightweight champion will go to the Barboza Jr fight on the back of a points loss to Ernesto de Jesus Mercado in July this year.
The 33-year-old Ndongeni from KwaBhaca remains the only boxer to have gone the distance with Mercado, who has 12 knockouts in 13 wins.
On the other hand, the 32-year-old Barboza Jr from California in the United States has won all his 28 fights with 10 of those victories coming via the short distance.
A week later, another former SA junior-lightweight champion Lunga ‘Pressure Cooker’ Sitemela will face off against Moroccan boxer Moussa Gholam in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
With 16 wins (12 stoppages) and a loss under his belt, Dordrecht-born Sitemela is yet to lose to an African boxer. The 28-year-old Gholam, who is based in Spain, has an impressive record having won 20 fights with 12 being stoppages and a loss.
South African flyweight champion Jackson ‘M3’ Chauke has a date with Afghanistan-born Briton Kaisy Khademi in an International Boxing Organisation (IBO) flyweight title fight at the York Hall in London on Saturday, 27 January 2024.
Chauke from Tembisa in Ekurhuleni won the SA flyweight after he stopped Thabang Ramagole in the ninth round at he Orient Theatre in April 2019. And he has since defended it a record five times.
Chauke has won 23 times (11 knockouts), lost twice and drawn twice while the 29-year-old Khademi, who is now based in London, United Kingdom, has a professional record of 10 wins (four knockouts), one loss and two draws.
Meanwhile, former world champion Sivenathi ‘Special One’ Nontshinga will attempt to reclaim the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-flyweight from his conqueror Adrian Curiel Dominguez in February.
Nontshinga faces Dominguez in a rematch in Mexico on Friday, 16 February (Saturday, 17 February, South African time). Dominguez dethroned Nontshinga with a second round stoppage in Monaco last month.
