Top KuGompo City boxing promoter Ayanda Matiti was noncommittal about whether he would work with world-acclaimed manager Colin Nathan after they were seen embracing and shaking hands in a meeting called by Boxing SA in Pretoria at the weekend.
Their embrace took the boxing fraternity by surprise, with social media going viral with people describing it as a good move for the future of SA boxing.
This follows years of frosty relations, which started when Matiti-promoted Duncan Village boxer Phumelela Cafu defected to Nathan’s HotBox Gymnasium in Johannesburg after signing with his No Doubt Management company in 2024.
Cafu was highly rated after Matiti manoeuvred him to lofty spots in world bodies with a title shot imminent.
Nathan managed to secure Cafu a world title shot in his first fight under him, guiding Cafu to a WBO junior bantamweight upset over Japanese Kosei Tanaka in October that year.
While other Matiti boxers followed suit, it was the departure of Landile Ngxeke that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, prompting Matiti to lodge a formal objection.
Boxing SA later rejected that and endorsed the contract Ngxeke signed with Nathan as valid.
“For him to be bold enough to approached me underlined his willingness to pursue for peace because I could have rudely rejected but his approach struck my inner core.”
— Ayanda Matiti
They are still locked in a dispute over Matiti-promoted Siyabulela Hem’s challenge for the SA featherweight title held by Nathan-managed Lindelani Sibisi, after Nathan insisted that Mdantsane’s Bongani Fule should get first preference owing to his position as a mandatory challenger.
After contradictory pronouncements by BSA, with chief operating officer Mandla Ntlanganiso endorsing Fule’s challenge while the body’s sanctioning committee said Hem deserved first preference due to his status as an SA junior featherweight champion, BSA invited all the parties to a two-day arbitration hearing attended by Matiti and Nathan.
Having traded barbs in letters to BSA over the saga, Nathan and Matiti stunned all and sundry when they shook hands to underline their reconciliation.
Matiti confirmed that he was taken aback when Nathan asked him to shake hands and take photos.
“This started during the hearing as Colin constantly supported my arguments, and when we went for a tea break, he suggested the handshake,” he said.
Matiti said he was surprised by the gesture owing to his previous frosty relations with Nathan.
“We can work with each other in the future”
— Colin Nathan
“For him to be bold enough to approach me underlined his willingness to pursue peace because I could have rudely rejected him, but his approach struck my inner core,” Matiti said.
The two were then invited to a Johannesburg podcast where they preached reconciliation, drawing big applause from boxing circles.
Nathan said life was short and no-one was bigger than the sport of boxing. “We can work with each other in the future,” he said.
With Nathan being the gateway for SA boxers to world titles and Matiti’s uncanny ability to take them from obscure environments and turn them into world beaters, there is optimism that the reconciliation would be a knockout punch for the sport.
Matiti could only say it was still early days to project far, as there was still plenty of ground to cover.
Daily Dispatch
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