A lengthy rift between former world title challenger Azinga Fuzile and top South African boxing promoter Rodney Berman has been healed, with the Duncan Village boxer set to feature in Berman’s tournament in Cape Town in July.
Berman and Fuzile’s previous handlers had a fallout after the then-unbeaten rising star sensationally knocked out Tshifhiwa Munyai in three rounds in Berman’s Golden Gloves Promotion (GGP) featherweight four show at Emperors Palace in Gauteng in 2017.
The event also saw Mdantsane’s former three-time world champion Simpiwe Vetyeka dropping a points decision to Lerato Dlamini in another featherweight clash, qualifying Fuzile and Dlamini to duke it out for the final.
However, the final never happened after Fuzile’s management was embroiled in a bitter standoff over his medical fitness with Berman when the GGP boss said Fuzile would be bypassed due to a questionable MRI scan.
After numerous medical tests, Fuzile was cleared to challenge for the IBF junior-lightweight title before his career took a nosedive and he hopped from one camp to another until he teamed up with international boxing manager Mla Tengimfene.
Tengimfene, who enjoys cordial relations with Berman, revealed that the southpaw would return under the GGP fold after lengthy discussions.
“I had fruitful discussions with Rodney and he was excited when I told him that Azinga was now under my wing,” he said.
“We are looking to bring him back in Rodney’s tournament in Cape Town and the move is geared towards helping Azinga reclimb the world boxing ladder.”
Berman was also overjoyed to reunite with the 27-year-old, who still sports an impressive CV, having lost just twice in 19 bouts.
“Azinga has always been one of my favourite boxers and we are happy to work with him again,” he said.
Fuzile ended 17 months of inactivity to stop Tanzanian Emmanuel Amos in Sada in December, breathing life into his quest to return to the world stage where he dropped a points decision to Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa.
This was in an IBF world title clash at Madison Square Garden in the US in November 2021.
His other loss was at the hands of eventual world champion Shavkat Rakhimov in a world title eliminator in East London in 2019.
Tengimfene said Fuzile, whose boxing credentials were still world-class, would be given a tough opponent as he vied to return to the ratings of world-sanctioning bodies.
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