Baby Jake is down and out

Though boxers can earn big money while active in the ring, they often end up penniless soon afterwards, said boxing manager Nick Durant.

He was commenting on the plight of boxing legend Baby Jake Matlala, now gravely ill in hospital.

The tiny retired boxer is financially down and out.

Durant said poverty was the fate of most boxers internationally.

With "98% of all boxers coming from poverty", he said, "they see boxing as a way out of it, but they don't realise that one day the waterfall will run dry".

One of the most striking examples was international boxing legend Mike Tyson, who apparently earned up to $300-million in his career but now has no money.

South African boxers Vuyani "The Beast" Bungu and Phillip Ndou are also said to be cash-strapped, he said.

Durant, who manages Ndou, said Ndou "hasn't got enough money" but he hoped that, after two or three years, Ndou would "have enough money in the bank".

Another down-and-out but famous boxer, Thulani "Sugarboy" Malinga, who was twice World Boxing Council super-middleweight champion, "invested badly in his days", said Durant.

Durant said he was sorry for Matlala, who is believed to have double pneumonia.

South African champion boxers can earn up to R80000 a fight but it was not enough if they fought only twice a year. It also made a difference whether "they're fighting in Las Vegas or Mafikeng".

Durant said boxers needed "a chartered accountant or a bank manager from day one", though no boxers were prepared to pay for financial advice at the start of their careers when they were earning too little to invest.

Matlala, despite a 22-year boxing career, in which he contested world titles 18 times, has hit hard times.

Yesterday, his wife, Mapule said: "He has worked so hard for this nation. He will be better with your support and prayers."

Matlala would not name the hospital at which her husband is being treated, requesting privacy on behalf of the family.

Golden Gloves boxing promoter Rodney Berman said he spoke to the boxer two weeks ago and he "sounded very weak".

"There's talk of double pneumonia, but he has something with the lungs - it could be TB, it could be anything," he said.

Berman hasarranged a black-tie charity fight in aid of Matlala.

The event, styled The Night of the Little Big Man, will take place at Emperors Palace on January 27.

"We're hoping to raise over R500000," said Berman. He said he hoped the money would be enough to cover Matlala's medical costs.

Berman's publicist, Terry Pettifer, said Matlala had "lost everything and needs all the help he can get".

Baby Jake memorabilia will be sold at the charity fight.

Supersport said yesterday that it had thrown its "weight behind former world champion Baby Jake Matlala, who has hit hard times and is in ill health".

Former South African boxing legend Brian Mitchell said he found it "quite strange" that Matlala did not have medical insurance to cover his hospital expenses.

As a boxing manager who "breeds champs", Durant said he had "longevity in the business", and that it was not his concern how his boxers fared when they stopped fighting.

"I'm not a charity operation," said Durant.

"I can't be responsible for what a boxer does after boxing."