Why Nathan is the go-to man in SA boxing

I really think fighters can see that I genuinely care about them and their careers.

This is Hotbox Gym owner Colin Nathan's response to increasing numbers of boxers joining his establishment.

Nathan is a trainer who established No Doubt Management, under Hotbox Gym, that looks after fighters in terms of getting them opportunities to get in the boxing ring.

He started training fighters in 2000, and in 2018 he established the management company which later that year produced its developed countries champion. That was when Hekkie Budler from Newlands, west of Johannesburg, won the WBA Super and IBF junior-flyweight belts.

Budler's accomplishment in winning unified titles earned him the Ring Magazine belt since 1950 when Vic Toweel won it for winning the undisputed world bantamweight title.

On July 15 2018, Moruti Mthalane from KwaZulu-Natal became its second world champion after he reclaimed the IBF flyweight belt which he had lost in the boardrooms in 2014. Mthalane was stripped of the belt after failing to face mandatory challenger Amnat Ruenroeng.

Nathan's new signing Sivenathi Nontshinga won the IBF junior-flyweight belt on September 2 2022. His flourishing career is also guided by the same company.

Just last week, Phumelela Cafu and Simnikiwe Bongco joined Nathan. Cafu is the SA junior bantamweight champion. He is at the doorstep of being given an opportunity to win a world title. Cafu is rated at No 4 by the IBF, third by the WBO, seventh by the WBA and 11th by the WBC.

Cafu — like Budler, Mthalane and Nontshinga — will also be trained by Nathan. Bongco, the 2022 Birmingham bronze medallist, will be trained by Shannon Strydom while No Doubt Management will run his affairs in the boardrooms, mapping his future.

Bongco will make his professional boxing debut at BoxCamp in Booysens on July 13. The fight will be staged by Boxing 5 Promotion which is co-owned by Nathan, businessman Larry Wainstein, dental technician Mohamed Riyaz Bhyat and former IBO boxing champ Ludumo Lamati.

Nontshinga, Cafu and Bongco are from the Eastern Cape.

The exodus of fighters from the Eastern Cape to Johannesburg first occurred late in the 1990s with the likes of Mhikiza Myekeni, Sizwe and Mabhute Sinyabi, Phumzile Mathyila, Simpiwe Nongqayi, Zolani and Makazole Tete and Smipiwe Vetyeka teaming up with prosperous trainer/manager Nick Durandt.

Durandt enjoyed support from the corporate world and he also had the backing of promoters Rodney Berman and Branco Milenkovic, whose tournaments were exclusively broadcast live by SuperSport and SABC.

Boxing 5 works with Vision View. Nathan enjoys support from the corporate world too.

Could it be his success in managing boxers' careers, strength as a trainer or the cordial relationship with some business people who sponsor some of his fighters, IBF president Darryl Peoples and British top promoter Eddie Hearn whose Matchroom promotes Nontshinga, that attract boxers to his stable?

Nathan said: “Fighters see that I can deliver legitimate world title opportunities; I think I've developed in all areas of boxing ... from coaching, strategy, conditioning to reading of a fight.

“Also, the business and marketing side. Of course, being a good corner man too, and having the ability to get the very best out of my athlete.”

Nathan upgraded his knowledge as a trainer through his regular visits to Freddie Roach, the former professional American boxer who is widely regarded as one of the best trainers of all time. 

Nathan's company was last month joined by Kaine “K9" Fourie — the Johannesburg-based prospect — who will welcome East London-based Siseko Makeleni for the vacant IBF Continental Africa lightweight title in Booysens on July 13.

Fourie is under the tutelage of successful veteran trainer and father to Shannon, Gert Strydom.