SA Female Pinning Hopes on Noni To Lift the IBF Crown

By Mesuli Zifo

South African female boxing is pinning hopes on Noni Thenge to give it a massive boost by winning the IBF world female welterweight title when she challenges New Zealander Daniella Smith at Carnival City in Brakpan, SA on Saturday night.

Since female boxing was legalized in the country with the passing of Boxing Act in 2001, it has failed to take off with just a handful of boxers who can really claim to be professional fighters.

The failure of female boxing to make its mark in the fistic game is not limited to SA only as worldwide the fairer folk are not captivating fans the same way the male counterparts are doing.

In SA only Thenge stands out as the best among the rest with her technique even superior to some of her male counterparts while others are still struggling to perfect the craft.

Part of the problem is the reluctance of the promoters to feature female fighters in their tournaments, thus rendering women boxers to long spells of inactivity.

The anomaly has also befallen Thenge as she ran out of opponents forcing her to juggle between various divisions in order to keep active.

But the strategy nearly backfired when Thenge was forced to take on Cameroonian Fransisca Mbang in a middleweight clash even though she is a natural welterweight fighter.            
“I was forced to put on more weight in order to be able to compete with Fransisca in the middleweight, “Thenge recalls of the November 2007 bout.

The added weight took away her reflexes, athleticism and foot work as she was painfully slow to avoid Mbang’s swings and was considered extremely lucky to come away with a draw.

“I could see her punches coming but my body was so heavy that I was unable to avoid them,” Thenge recalls.

The undeserved draw is the only blemish in her fight record of 11 fights with eight knockouts.

Thenge made amends in the rematch when she easily outpointed Mbang in defence of her WBF title last October.

Now 29-years old, Thenge whose management has anointed her as the “She Bee Stinging” in honor of Laila Ali, is at the perfect ambassador for female boxing in the country if she beats Smith and inspires more women boxers to follow a career in boxing.

With the WBF junior featherweight champion Unathi Myekeni the other local female fighter with impeccable fighting ability, Thenge knows that she has assumed the status of a trailblazer for female boxing in the country for everybody to follow.

“I know that all the sisters are looking up at me to do this for them and I promise that I will not disappoint them,” Thenge says.

While she is listed as favorite to beat Smith, the task will not be a cut and dry exercise as the champion is used to fighting in a hostile environment having lifted the title at her opponent’s backyard when she beat German Jennifer Retzke last November for the inaugural crown.

The 38-year-old mother of two champion says she is not fazed by the raucous crowd which is expected to rally behind Thenge and cheer for every punch she throws even if it does not land.

“I am not worried a bit about the crowd because in the ring it will be Noni and me,” Smith said.