Sivenathi Nontshinga begins his trek back towards the summit of world boxing in a comeback bout on Saturday, but this leg of his yo-yo-like career could prove to be the hardest.
Nontshinga, who held the IBF junior flyweight crown from September 2022 to April 2023, and again from February to October 2024, takes on Namibian Jonas Erastus at the Box Camp in Booysens, Johannesburg, on Saturday night.
Victory should get him back into the world rankings, perhaps even into the top five, vying for a crack at the belt that is now held by Thailand’s veteran Thanongsak Simsri.
At 26, Nontshinga has age on his side, and judging from the moves he showed in sparring this week, he still has the skills.
But there are two big questions circling the talented pugilist.
One is about him getting the experience he needs. For a kid who won the world title for the first time in only his 11th bout — a South African record — he’s had a chequered record since then.
Nontshinga made one successful defence, then lost the belt, reclaimed it, and lost it again for a record that stands at 13 wins and two losses, both inside the distance.
The former two-time world champion still needs more ring experience. “I just want to keep on learning and fight more rounds. Take it one step at a time,” he told the Sunday Times.
“We had to go back and take a break [after losing his last bout in October last year] and fix our mental health because a lot of things are happening. I’m still young, still need guidance, but being far away from my family … we may make a lot of mistakes, but we learn. Trials and tribulations, they’re part of life.”
I’m still young, still need guidance, but being far away from my family … we may make a lot of mistakes, but we learn. Trials and tribulations, they’re part of life.
— — Sivenathi Nontshinga, SA boxer
The second question is whether he lost any of his fire during his ninth round stoppage at the hands of Masamichi Yabuki in Japan in his last outing.
The end came when he went down for a third time, more from the pressure being applied by his opponent, rather than the result of power blows.
It’s a seemingly strange question for a fighter who, when winning the title the first time, was motivated by the words of his trainer-manager, Colin Nathan, in the corner mid-fight, asking him how much he wanted the win.
The boxer, who responded by showing heart, insisted he was still as hungry as he’s ever been. “One hundred percent,” replied the boxer from East London but has trained in Joburg for the past few years. “I saw boxing has the ability to change lives.
“We have houses back home; we managed to do that for my mom, for my dad. We have built a house for my brothers, when we go to the rural areas we can have our own house,” he said, adding he’d also bought a car.
“Everything is coming together. I still want to achieve more.”
The question of fire, however, can be answered only in the ring; that is the only court where a boxer’s commitment can be judged.
Jan Bergman was still at the peak of his powers when he took on Jawaid Khaliq in a thrilling welterweight war in early 2003. Both men hit the deck twice each, getting up to carry on.
But when Bergman, 32 at the time, went down a third time, with a massive cut on his eyelid, he stayed there.
The fight probably would have been stopped because of the bleeding, but a younger fighter still possessing the fire would have stood up in a bid to try to continue.
Afterwards Bergman refused to accept the significance of that moment, but a second-round stoppage loss to James Hare later that year ushered him out of the top echelon.
Corrie Sanders was 42 when he returned to the ring to take on former sparring partner Osborne Machimana. On paper it should have been a mismatch, but when Machimana landed a heavy body shot, sinking a glove into Sanders’s soft belly in the first round, the former world champion sought refuge on the canvas and took the count.
There’s no disgrace to losing the fire — every boxer faces that point in his life. But the odds are that Nontshinga hasn’t reached that point, given that he’s still so young.
And he will need all his motivation and experience, if he wants to be only the second South African to become a mainstream world champion for a third time, after Dingaan Thobela.
Every future opponent is going to study his failures and try to use those against him.
Erastus, who dropped a 10-round decision against English prospect Alfie Clegg in June to see his record drop to nine wins and a loss, should be a decent test for Nontshinga’s start to the next leg of his journey.
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