As if being stopped in the ninth round during his fight against Scot Nathaniel Collins on Friday night was not enough, Cape Town-based boxer Thembani ‘Baby Jake’s Mbangatha was turned away from the airport when he wanted to return to the Mother City.
Mbangatha together with his trainer Steve Newton and his promoter Jackie Brice were asked to go for COVID-19 tests if they wanted to return to South Africa.
This is so because the United Kingdom has banned travel to South Africa following the detection of the Omicron variant.
“Things are not easy here because of this new variant. We were turned away at the airport. We had to do another COVID test and we missed our flight,” Mbangatha said on Saturday evening.
“We had to go back to the hotel for one more night. We are flying back home tomorrow (Sunday) 4pm. First to Germany, then to Cape Town.”
The Qumbu-born Cape Town cop didn’t sleep after his fight against Collins as he had to be early for COVID-19 testing.
“I had a hard time. I struggled to relax, remember I fought at night and couldn’t sleep. I had to wait for a taxi that was going to pick us up at 2am and take us to the airport,” Mbangatha said.
“We got at the airport and had to stay there because the COVID testing centre was opening at 7am. Only after that did I go back to the hotel to get some rest. It has been a tough 24 hours, but otherwise everything is sorted now.”
