The last time Tholumusa Ngema walked out of the gates of Khula High School, he was a young impressionable teenager, like the ones he addressed on his return last week.

Ngema, the WBF International junior featherweight boxing champion, went to his alma mater to motivate pupils on the benefits of taking part in sport.

The 25-year-old soft-spoken professional boxer from Esikhawini in KZN said his former school teachers where he matriculated in 2014 could not believe it when he rocked up with his belt last week.

"I first made a request for the visit and the principal liked the idea. I was welcomed by both the teachers and the scholars," said Gauteng-based Ngema

"My former teachers told me that they did not think I would go on and become a champion. They thought I would quit the sport after matriculating.

"I then advised learners that sports help in that it teaches you to live clean and that enables you to focus on your studies because your mind is clear.

"I'm the beneficiary. Look, at first it was not easy because sometimes I would be feeling tired in the classroom after being in the gym early in the morning but as time went by I got used to it. But my thinking was clear. Being fit physically and mentally helped me grasp things easy at school."

Ngema said sport enabled him to fly abroad and sleep in a hotel for the first time.

"That had not happened to me before," said Ngema who fought in the US in 2010 while still at school. He finally turned professional in 2015.

Ngema returns to ring action on March 21 in Durban.