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Phumelela Cafu’s world boxing title victory in Japan has given destitute Duncan Village residents hope of overcoming their many challenges — characterised by abject poverty, shack fires and flooding — while the area’s younger generation view it as inspiration to shape a better life for themselves.
The feat has also shone a light on the neglect of the sport by the government — there are no adequate training facilities in the township.
Cafu became the first boxer from Duncan Village to win a WBO title after dethroning Japanese Kosei Tanaka in Tokyo recently.
His win shocked the boxing world, including some of his neighbours owing to his laid-back demeanour, instilled by his strict aunts.
Former boxing trainer and promoter Koko Qebeyi, the only person to have staged a professional boxing tournament just a stone’s throw away from Cafu’s home, said he never dreamed the 26-year-old would bring the coveted boxing belt back to Duncan Village.
“This is not a Mickey Mouse title but one of the most treasured, so for him to win it speaks volumes about his talent,” Qebeyi said.
“Only well-connected boxers get to fight for the WBO [title] but winning it trumps everything.”
A former BCM ward councillor in the area, Qebeyi played an indirect role in Cafu’s boxing success as he once trained his father, Thembisile Mfazwe, who often visited him to learn training techniques.
Little did Qebeyi know that Mfazwe would find a girlfriend in the neighbourhood, who later fell pregnant and gave birth to Cafu.
At just three years old, Cafu pestered his aunts and late mother, Vuyokazi, to attend his father’s fights.
“It is safe to say this kid was born into boxing because he would even climb on the coffee table and mimic a boxing match playing on television,” his aunt, Lindiwe, said.
While he attended school, Cafu’s passion was boxing and after matriculating at John Bisseker High School he told Lindiwe that he would no longer continue with his studies.
“By that time his mother had long passed away and her youngest sister, Sisanda, had assumed the role of a mother,” she said.
Cafu, who goes by the “Truth” moniker, said he was influenced by the world’s richest athlete, Floyd Mayweather Junior, who commercialised boxing and made millions of dollars from it.
“When I look around I see graduates roaming the streets with no jobs yet some people like Mayweather are able to make a living using their talent,” the champ said.
“That is when I decided to make a living from boxing and I believe I will become one of the richest boxers in SA.”
Cafu is on course to fulfil his dreams after signing a money-spinning contract with Japan promoter Teiken Promotions after beating Tanaka.
“I must say the contract is very rewarding though I will not mention the figures. Suffice to say that all my purses will be in dollars.”
This will enable him to buy a house for his mother, Sisanda, a dream which helped him to rally back and take control of the fight against Tanaka when he was reminded of it by his trainer, Colin Nathan, while he was on the verge of succumbing in the seventh round.
“I want to take her out of this area and buy her a house in Sandton so that she can enjoy the fruits of raising me,” he said.
While Cafu’s victory has been widely celebrated, with government officials making endless promises, Qebeyi lamented the dire training facilities in Duncan Village.
The sentiments were echoed by one of Cafu’s childhood trainers, Thulani Mhlubulwana, whose Zakhele Youth Boxing gymnasium is housed in a shack and features a few punching bags.
Cafu trained for three years as an amateur under Mhlubulwana’s tutelage before joining Phila Mapetla Mzamo’s Wonder Boy Boxing Club, named after political activist Mzukisi “Wonder Boy” Skweyiya, who died in exile.
Mzamo, who also trained Mfazwe, went on to polish Cafu’s skills in his rundown gymnasium at the back of the Gompo Hall.
However, his work is often disrupted by thugs who steal the boxing equipment.
“We are struggling with training facilities but these youngsters are dedicated to their craft just like Cafu when he was young,” he said.
“Cafu used to accompany his father, Mfazwe, as a three-year-old to training and work on the punch bag.
“He would get so tired and fall asleep and later wake up to continue banging the bag.”
Long before Cafu’s rise to stardom, Mzamo’s gymnasium produced another star, Zukisani Kwayiba, who was tipped as a world champion before falling short at the penultimate stage of a title shot.
The highly rated Kwayiba earned an IBF mini-flyweight title eliminator against Colombian Ronald Barrera in Hammanskraal in 2008 but was knocked out in the second round in a loss he attributed to a struggle to reduce weight.
The defeat marked the beginning of a downward spiral until he quit the sport.
“Boxers do not have a support system in Duncan Village so it is easy for them to get sidetracked,” Kwayiba said.
“There are so many unsavoury activities here but the biggest challenge is the lack of facilities, not only for boxing but for other sporting codes as well.”
Mhlubulwana, who is the secretary of the Eastern Cape Boxing Managers’ Association, said the body had been engaging the government to improve the situation.
“Boxing in this area is one of the quickest forms of service delivery because with the abundance of talent kids can use it to shape a better life, but sadly help is not forth coming.”
Boxing legend Welcome Ncita, who became the first boxer in the province to win a world title when he beat Frenchman Fabrice Benichou for the IBF junior featherweight belt in Israel in 1990, warned Cafu of the pitfalls awaiting him as world champion.
Ncita, whose roots are also in Duncan Village, said the new champion would attract a slew of friends and foes, many of whom would attempt to lead him astray.
“You must know that your biggest fights will not only be in the ring now but with those who pretend to be your friends,” he said.
While Cafu is the toast of the area, youngsters such as Yakhe Mangesi, 12, who trains under Mzamo’s tutelage, are keen to follow suit.
“I also want to be a world champion and be like the Truth,” the youngster said as he hammered the punch bag Cafu used to hone his skills which eventually helped him to conquer the world.
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