Mzonke Fana’s boxing career might be hanging by the thinnest of threads after he lost the SA lightweight title to Thompson Mokwana on Friday but the veteran is adamant he is not about to throw in the towel yet.
The 43 year old wilting “Rose of Khayelitsha” was so out of it that judges Ben Ncapayi and Neville Hotz were spot on with their scores of 118-109. Some would say Thabo Spampool was just sympathetic with his 116-111 verdict.
But Fana is seemingly unfazed.
“Retirement is considered‚” Fana said with a smile after the defeat.
“But if my limbs still allow me to do what I want to do‚ so why must I quit? I also have a promoter (Ayanda Matiti) who has promised to continue using me.”
Critics will argue that Fana’s status as an elite fighter appears to have evaporated and he must quit now before something very serious happens to him inside the square ring.
A former two-time IBF junior lightweight holder who has been a good ambassador for boxing since 1994‚ Fana was a shadow of his former self against the unheralded boxer in Mokwana at Turffontein Racecourse on Friday evening.
The loss was Fana’s third consecutive defeat. In total he has lost 13 times but won 38 bouts. Nothing worked for him on Friday.
Only fitness carried him through. He was a totally different fighter from the one who captured the IBF junior lightweight belt from Malcolm “The Stone” Klassen and Cassius “Hitman” Baloyi.
Gone are the rapid-fire flurries and boundless energy that carried him to the top‚ and all that remains is a listless journeyman capable of only brief flashes of his former brilliance.
Perhaps the alarm bells should have gone off when Fana could not get going in his fight against Terry Flanagan for the WBO lightweight belt in the UK in July last year.
It was even worse when he collapsed in the ring after a defeat to Emmanuel Tagoe in a fight for the vacant IBO lightweight belt in Ghana in December.
Fana had to be rushed to hospital but later recovered.
Boxing SA officials were shocked to learn about the incident because Fana went to Ghana without the governing body’s consent.
Fana went to Germany in March and was defeated by six-fight novice Howik Bebraham in what was his third consecutive loss.
He had last won a fight in March last year when he stopped Vusumzi Bokolo inside the distance for the first defence of the SA title. - TimesLIVE
Defiant Fana insists he won't quit after losing his title
Mzonke Fana’s boxing career might be hanging by the thinnest of threads after he lost the SA lightweight title to Thompson Mokwana on Friday but the veteran is adamant he is not about to throw in the towel yet.
The 43 year old wilting “Rose of Khayelitsha” was so out of it that judges Ben Ncapayi and Neville Hotz were spot on with their scores of 118-109. Some would say Thabo Spampool was just sympathetic with his 116-111 verdict.
But Fana is seemingly unfazed.
“Retirement is considered‚” Fana said with a smile after the defeat.
“But if my limbs still allow me to do what I want to do‚ so why must I quit? I also have a promoter (Ayanda Matiti) who has promised to continue using me.”
Critics will argue that Fana’s status as an elite fighter appears to have evaporated and he must quit now before something very serious happens to him inside the square ring.
A former two-time IBF junior lightweight holder who has been a good ambassador for boxing since 1994‚ Fana was a shadow of his former self against the unheralded boxer in Mokwana at Turffontein Racecourse on Friday evening.
The loss was Fana’s third consecutive defeat. In total he has lost 13 times but won 38 bouts. Nothing worked for him on Friday.
Only fitness carried him through. He was a totally different fighter from the one who captured the IBF junior lightweight belt from Malcolm “The Stone” Klassen and Cassius “Hitman” Baloyi.
Gone are the rapid-fire flurries and boundless energy that carried him to the top‚ and all that remains is a listless journeyman capable of only brief flashes of his former brilliance.
Perhaps the alarm bells should have gone off when Fana could not get going in his fight against Terry Flanagan for the WBO lightweight belt in the UK in July last year.
It was even worse when he collapsed in the ring after a defeat to Emmanuel Tagoe in a fight for the vacant IBO lightweight belt in Ghana in December.
Fana had to be rushed to hospital but later recovered.
Boxing SA officials were shocked to learn about the incident because Fana went to Ghana without the governing body’s consent.
Fana went to Germany in March and was defeated by six-fight novice Howik Bebraham in what was his third consecutive loss.
He had last won a fight in March last year when he stopped Vusumzi Bokolo inside the distance for the first defence of the SA title. - TimesLIVE
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