Boxing Positives.

Good Morning Gents,

As someone who, like any boxing fan can suffer from the usual boxing disappointments such as fights not being made, use of PED's, poor decisions in scoring and blatant mismatches it was heartening to watch the attached link that shows the fight game in such a positive light.

It mainly centres on a boxing gym in Johannesburg's notorious Hillbrow district.

Won't be to everyone's taste but well worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHk7h71hGxw

Cheers,

Badgerhands.

I've been there before. But that was before the place got really rough. Maybe I should go back to see whats new... Good link.

The gym, not Hillbrow, Hillbrow has always been rough.

Did you meet George the trainer at the gym?

The guy seems a lesson in positive thinking, certainly puts mundane day to day problems into perspective.

Being from Jo'Burg Kingraf, do you know of any decent fighters who have hailed from Hillbrow, seems the sort of area that would be a breeding ground for tough fighters?

I dont think I did Badger. Its tough to say, but if I'm not mistaken, George started there a year or two ago, I was last there when I was pre-teen.

I dont think there are any great South African fighters that hail from Hillbrow. Eastern Cape is where the large majority of South African boxers come from. It's the number one sport there. Mandel, an Eastern Cape native also used to love boxing. My grandmother is from Eastern Cape, and I have the bug. Limpopo also produces quality boxers, with world level guys like Phillip Ndou, Moruti, Lovemore Ndou hailing from there. My dad comes from Limpopo.

In Gauteng, the majority of boxers hail from Soweto, or the East Rand. I cant recall any fighter of note who hails from Hillbrow.

Thanks for the informative answer Kingraf.

Very interesting chap.

Cheers.

Would you say that the 3 most famous South African boxers are Sanders, Malinga and Botha (certainly in recent times)? I say this because neither of the 3 are from the real poverty stricken areas (relatively speaking) of SA such as Johannesburg (Soweto) and the Cape.

Interesting to read that by numbers, Eastern Cape and Limpopo have the majority of boxers in South Africa, kingraf. However, is it not the case that Gauteng fighters have basically provided most of the real quality if you look at top-tier fighters from your homeland? I'm thinking of guys like Mitchell, Ledaba, Matlala, Thobela, Baloyi and, going back a few years, the Toweels, Tuli and Nhlapo.

Malinga was from Natal, if I remember rightly, so the three real high achievers I can think of from the Eastern Cape are Ncita and Bungu (same town, I believe) and Botile. Who am I missing? Do the easterners have to go to Jo'burg in order to make good, get the right training and the most influential promoters?

The majority of them moved to Gauteng, but Ledwaba, is from Limpopo, or at least spent his formative years there. Same with Baloyi.

So to answer your question, yes. The majority of them do go to Jo'burg because the better trainers, money etc are based in Gauteng.

Me, I'm a boxing positive.

seanmichaels wrote:Would you say that the 3 most famous South African boxers are Sanders, Malinga and Botha (certainly in recent times)? I say this because neither of the 3 are from the real poverty stricken areas (relatively speaking) of SA such as Johannesburg (Soweto) and the Cape.

Bryan Mitchell and Baby Jake Matlala who was the most popular sportsman in SA when he was active.