Mutavhatsindi wants his boxer wife to get world bodies' attention

'Our ultimate dream is to win a world title'

Newly crowned SA Junior bantamweight champ Nosiacaswe Dube and her trainer husband Emmanuel Mutavhatsindi are sandwiched by promoters.
Newly crowned SA Junior bantamweight champ Nosiacaswe Dube and her trainer husband Emmanuel Mutavhatsindi are sandwiched by promoters.
Image: Supplied

Guiding his wife to win the SA junior-bantamweight title was an amazing feeling for trainer-manager Emmanuel Mutavhatsindi. That was the first of its kind here.

His wife Nosiacaswe Dube dethroned Thema Zuma in the main bout of the women only tournament jointly staged by Zandile Malinga, Nomvelo Magcaba and Hlengiwe Dladla at the Pietermaritzburg Town Hall on December 20.

The Johannesburg-based mentor from Thohoyandou, Venda, says hard work was about to begin now that Dube was the champion.  “Every contender wants to be the champion,” he said yesterday.

“She has to take her game to another level. We can't bask in the glory of winning the title forever; we must start getting ready for the future. And I intend knocking on doors internationally for her to get to show her capabilities outside South Africa.”

Mutavhatsindi has taken a lot of fighters, including the ones he does not train or manage, to countries such as Russia and Tanzania. “She must get the attention of the world bodies because our ultimate dream is to win a world title,” said Mutavhatsindi, who helped Bukiwe Nonina become the first woman to claim the ownership of an SA title after registering the required five successful defences.

Dube said: “He always told me that the SA title will open doors. I had eyes on other belts so that I had something to show for my commitment because winning takes forever to become the owner of the SA title. I'Mvery happy to win the SA title; it's an amazing feeling. It means a lot because I went into the fight as an underdog and defeated the champ in her backyard.”

Dube is from the Free State, where she began her boxing career under Joseph Mofokeng before moving to Johannesburg where she teamed up with trainer Snalo Nokhele and Mutavhatsindi as her manager.

The boxer and her manager tied the knot in 2013, and Mutavhatsindi is now Dube's trainer and manager.

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