Ntwanambi's reluctance to box again concerns managers

Distressed boxing trainer Amanda Magatya says he has tried his best to help troubled boxer Luyanda Ntwanambi to get back to the sport, but all his efforts have failed.

Ntwanambi from Duncan Village, near East London, has not donned boxing gloves since tasting defeat to ring veteran Jackson Chauke in Gqeberha in 2021.

Chauke's SA flyweight title was on the line, as was Ntwanambi's WBO Global belt. Affectionately known as "Pretty Boy", Ntwanambi, then 22, lost by a majority points decision to the former Olympian from Tembisa.

Magatya said he thought his charge's defeat affected him psychologically because Ntwanambi had been undefeated in eight fights before meeting Chauke.

"I organised a rehabilitation for him with a psychologist at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane," he said yesterday. "But Luyanda told the psychologist he had no problem. He attended twice and stopped."

Rumble Africa Promotion's (RAP) CEO Nomfesane Nyathela said she and boxing manager Mlandeli Tengimfene were in a process of helping Ntwanambi. "He needs help," Nyathela conceded.

RAP founder Thembalethu “Terris” Ntutu said: "We have on many occasions tried to pull him back but we were not successful.

"I remember he had an opponent to feature in the undercard of Sivenathi Nontshinga's defence of his IBF belt on September 2 last year. But we had to collapse the bout because he did not go to the gym."

Boxing SA manager in East London, Phakamile Jacobs, said it has been years since he last saw Ntwanambi.

"He stays in a shack at the back of his family house in Duncan Village. Nomfesane Nyatela saw talent in that boy and she took him in to be under her watchful eye because of the township environment.

"He started misbehaving and Nomfesane could not accommodate his behaviour."

Attempts to get hold of Ntwanambi were unsuccessful.

Jacobs emphasised the importance of education.

"Those that pay attention to school think differently to those that do not; those who did not go far [at school] rely on boxing and find themselves in difficult times when they don't have fights," he said.

"Some begin to drink alcohol excessively and others do drugs and crime. BSA once had a partnership with correctional services and we started recruiting inmates because they leave jail with no education and no prospects of being employed. We wanted them to channel their energy into boxing."