Fana fights the final bell

Mzonke Fana's boxing career might be hanging by the thinnest of threads after he lost the South African lightweight title to Thompson Mokwana on Friday. But the veteran is adamant he is not about to throw in the towel yet.

The "Rose of Khayelitsha" was so out of it that judges Ben Ncapayi and Neville Hotz were spot on with their scores of 118-109.

Thabo Spampool was just sympathetic with his 116-111 verdict.

But Fana, 43, is unfazed.

"Retirement is considered," the boxer said with a smile after the defeat, his fourth in a row.

"But if my limbs still allow me to do what I want to do, why must I quit?"

Critics argue that Fana's status as an elite fighter has evaporated and he must quit before something serious happens to him inside the ring.

A former two-time IBF junior lightweight title holder, Fana was a shadow of his former self against the unheralded Mokwana at Turffontein Racecourse.

His record now stands at 38 wins and 13 defeats.

Nothing worked for him on Friday and 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 in 2007 and Cassius "Hitman" Baloyi in 2010.

Gone are the rapid-fire flurries 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 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 by Emmanuel Tagoe for the vacant IBO light-weight belt in Ghana in December.

Fana was rushed to hospital, but later recovered.

Boxing SA was shocked to learn about the incident because Fana went to Ghana without the sport's 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 last won a fight in March last year, when he stopped Vusumzi Bokolo inside the distance for the first defence of the South African title.