A MERE look at Tshaka Youth Centre Gym boxing facility could make a potential boxer reconsider taking boxing as a profession.<!–more–
Mthethwa Sports Reporter
The Youth Centre gym has produced some of Zimbabwe’s prominent boxers. One would expect to find top class equipment that the boxers use, but a visit by Southern Eye Sport on Friday told a different story as the facility has become a sorry site.
Veteran boxing coach Phillip “Striker” Ndlovu who has been involved in the sport for more than 20 years lamented the state of the equipment boxers use.
“The facilities at our gym are very bad. We have amateur and professional boxers who use this place for their training, but the facilities are not good,” he said.
The gym which has produced renowned pugilists in the country like heavyweight champion Thamsanqa Dube, former light and middleweight champion Mordecai Donga, Sipho Moyo (super middle-weight), Nokuthula Tshabangu (flyweight) and former middleweight champion Ambrose Mlilo, has only two tattered punching bags.
The few gloves and the headgears are also in tattares while the rest of the gym equipment looks very old. “We are only using two punching bags. The green one (in picture) was bought by Bradley Williams while the other one was bought by Matthew Love as well as a set of gloves. We have not had a new punching bag for years,” added Ndlovu.
He also took the time to explain how they had acquired some of the equipment. “We started using most of the gym equipment from 1978 when we were using the Msiteli Gym (now the Registrar-General’s Office). I am the one who moved with the equipment to Tshaka. We bought most of the items from auctions and we are still using some of the equipment until now,” he said.
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Over the years, the country’s boxers have becoming punching bags to Namibian boxers as the pugilists have struggled on the international scene. “Our boxing has also gone down because of the bad facilities that our boxers are using. For us to reach very high standards in the sport, our boxers have to get proper training equipment. As you can see that even our head gears and gloves are also not up to scratch.
“Boxing has also gone down because of lack of sponsorship. You find that after the boxer trains with this equipment, he has to travel a very long distance to get to Namibia by road. When the boxer gets there, he is already tired and it becomes difficult for them.
In a proper set-up, the boxer would need to train with good equipment, and then fly so that he can get enough rest and time to train,” he said. Ndlovu said they have tried to get assistance to buy new equipment, but to no avail as most corporates have said they are struggling to make ends meet.
The centre is home to professional boxers who include Dube, Martin Tshuma, Ndumiso Tshabangu, Dumezweni Ntuliki, Meluleki Ngulube, Lovewell Maphosa and was also home to South African based duo of Ntando Sibanda and Victor Elvis “Bulawayo Bomber” Moyo.
