Gcadu faces Booth in bid to improve her ranking

The scarcity of fights for females boxers here is impacting negatively to some careers. 

A larger number of South African champions have not defended their titles and chances of them claiming the outright ownership of Boxing SA's belts are slim. 

A champion is required to make five successful defences to become the owner of the belt.

It is even worse with contenders for vacant titles where that contender happens to be the only boxer in that weight division.

Boxing SA has tried hard to encourage women from all walks of life to join the sport in various categories but focusing mainly in getting more women to box.

The last attempt was the Rise of Women Series which was spread all over the country. It looked promising in the beginning but it fizzled out as it progressed due to the fact that match-makers had no choice but to feature same fighters in most of the tournaments.

That was due to the fact that Boxing SA has lesser number of female fighters. One boxer who was discovered from that programme – Wendy Gcadu – finds herself having to risk her No 1 rating in the super-middleweight division in order to improve her world ranking.

Her trainer Bhunu "Elimnyama" Mthalane said she is rated No 9 in the World. Gcadu is risking it all against Nobengazi Booth in a bout that will be staged at Olive Convention Centre by former professional female boxer promoter Nomvelo Shezi's Mvelo Boxing Promotion on Friday night.

"It's a must-win fight for Wendy in order for her world ratings to improve," said Mthalane, who described the match as being a battle of supremacy between his Mthalane Gym in Lindelani in Durban and the Sbongile Boxing Gym of Hlula Dladla in Dundee.

Mthalane said their other boxers met in 2022 in Mooi River and their match was declared a draw. "To me that draw was a win because my boxer Dumisani Majola, who had no amateur experience, was making a debut against Dladla's boxer Sanele Mhlungu, who was involved in his fourth fight," he said.

"That fight was the best bout of the afternoon and both boxers were given R1,000 extra to their original purse monies as a bonus. It was staged jointly by Uhuru and Hlula Dladla Promotion. Here we are facing each other again on Friday night."

Mthalane said Gcadu's challenge for the vacant SA super-middleweight title last month could not happen because Boxing SA was unhappy about the fight record of Lilian Molala (two wins, 12 losses and two draws).

Molala last won a boxing match in 2012. Gcadu is rated No 1 and the SA title is vacant. "We have no choice but to win on Friday so that we stay at No 1 in SA and probably move up to the top five ranking in the world."

Topping Shezi's Return to Glory tournament will be a 12-rounder for the vacant WBC silver-cruiserweight title between No 3 and No 4 contenders, Thabiso "The Rock" Mchunu and Argentinian Alberto Peralta.

Mchunu's gym-mate at the Smith's Gym of trainer Sean Smith in Johannesburg, Thulani "Evolution" Mbenge, will take on Peralat's homeboy Ariel Fonseca in a non-title match over 10 rounds in the welterweight division.

Mchunu, from KwaXimba, Cato Ridger in Pietermaritzburg, last fought in 2022 when he failed to wrestle the WBC belt from then champion Ilunga Makabu in a closely contested bout staged by American Hall of Fame promoter Don King at Packard Music Hall, Ohio in the US.

Makabu won by split points.

Two judges scored the fight 115-113 and 116-112 for Makabu while the third judge scored it 115-113 for Mchunu. Many news outlets disagreed with the decision, as they had scored it in favor of Mchunu.

On the other hand, Mbenge from Mdantsane has not boxed competitively since failing in his attempt to win the WBC silver-welterweight belt in France against Souleymanne Cissokho in 2022.