Chocolate May Not Be So Sweet For Matyhila in Defense

By Mesuli Zifo

OLYMPIAN Phumzile Matyhila will try to make the best of the remains of his disappointing career when he defends his South African bantamweight crown against Cleutus Mbhele at Orient Theatre in East London, SA on Saturday.

The 35-year-old SA Amateur Team member at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has failed to parlay his Olympic achievements into bigger things at the professional ranks and now he is on the twilight of his career with just a national crown and regional title to show for it.

In fact Matyhla still holds the ignominious record of being the first SA fighter to surrender his WBC junior flyweight crown on the scales when he came in overweight for his title defence.

Since then his career took a downward spiral with unimpressive performances against unheralded opponents such as a draw against a Pfariso Neluvhalani in his bantamweight debut.

He was sensationally knocked out in three rounds by unheralded Lwazi Mzolisa and then labored to a joint-stinking draw against a nondescript Sipho Nkadimeng before getting a call to face Nkqubela Gwazela for the SA bantamweight title by virtue of his glossy record of just one loss and two draws in 19 bouts.

Gwazela had just dethroned Klaas Mboyane a few weeks earlier and was looking for a safe and beatable opponent.

After a back and forth action in which the stamina prone-Gwazela faded in the late rounds, Matyhila was given the nod of a very close fight which at worst should have been a draw last August.

However becoming a champion does not seem to have motivated Matyhila into taking his career seriously as he was forced to go the full distance in his maiden defence against perennial loser Ntobeko Duma who at three wins and 11 losses, should have never been allowed to contest for a national title.

Whether Matyhila, nicknamed “Kid Chocolate” in his amateur days, has exorcised the ghost of his junior flyweight weight struggles will be interesting to see against the 21-year-old challenger who poses a serious threat to his career.

Mbhele, a southpaw with just two losses he suffered against Mboyane received the first of the two defeats under bizarre circumstances when he was given bigger-sized gloves and ended up getting knocked out in four rounds.

After reviewing the fight the local commission ordered a rematch due to the gloves discrepancy but Mboyane opted to face Gwazela for the vacant title and scored a come-from behind 11th round stoppage victory.

He then accommodated Mbhele and repeated the feat by beating him on points in defence of the title before losing it in a rematch with Gwazela who surrendered it to Matyhila.

Mbhele has since bounced back after his two losses to Mboyane to score a points victory over serviceable Mzolisi Mbewu to win the Gauteng title and followed that up with an even bigger scalp of Bongani Mahlangu in his last bout in February to qualify for the national title challenge.