Mthatha boxer Lusizo Manzana says he will use the SA bantamweight title challenge against champion Ronald Malindi to banish his arrest ordeal when he and his friends were found in a stolen vehicle.
Manzana, amateur star Sinovuyo Mthintelwa and four others were taken into custody and appeared in the East London magistrate’s court in October 2022, but the charges were later withdrawn after evidence linking them to the incident could not be established.
The Mdantsane-trained boxer has not fought since and will be returning to the ring when he challenges Malindi at the East London International Convention Centre on June 16.
The fight will see Manzana’s trainer, Tembani Gopheni, plotting the downfall of his big friend Malindi in a twist of fate.
Gopheni and Malindi have become great friends since the boxer showed compassion when Gopheni lost his parents.
“He called me and gave me support when my parents died,” Gopheni said.
“Since then we have been in regular contact, but not once did we speak about boxing.
“It is painful to plot his downfall, but I hope wherever he is he understands that this is business.”
While Gopheni will have ambivalent feelings, Manzana wants nothing else than to lay his hands on the title and prove he is capable of doing things by the book and shed the bad boy persona he is associated with.
Gopheni said he had never doubted that his boxers were innocent, but admitted that the incident had been a bit of a downer.
“All that is water under the bridge and we have even forgotten it.
“But I know people will always look at Lusizo with those eyes even though the boy has never been off the rails.”
Gopheni said Manzana was so eager to win the belt that the technical team was trying to tone him down.
“He wants nothing more than winning that belt and, for him, the fight cannot come soon enough.
“When a boxer is that anxious he can make mistakes and that is where us trainers come in to remind him to focus on the job at hand and not win the fight before stepping into the ring.”
Manzana sports a single loss, ironically against Gopheni’s son Sive Nontshinga, who will headline the June 16 show when he defends his IBF junior-flyweight title against Filipino Regie Suganob.
While Manzana is banking on vociferous home support, Malindi will not be intimidated either as he has fought several times in East London since becoming a champion.
The Johannesburg boxer lifted the vacant title by beating Duncan Village’s Mbulelo Dyani at the Portuguese Hall in Johannesburg in 2018.
He has defended it five times, with three of them taking place in East London against Makazole Tete, Michael Daries and Lwandile Sityatha.
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