The new management of SA's once brightest boxing star Azinga Fuzile, has promised to steer him back to glory by first giving him a rust-shaking bout at Thula Kula Indoor Sports Centre in Komani on December 3.
The Duncan Village boxer has not fought in over a year. His last ring appearance was in July 2022 when he produced an underwhelming performance against a visibly limited Malawian foe, Romeo Makwakwa, in his lightweight debut before prevailing by a third-round stoppage.
The bout marked his return to the ring after he failed to win the vacant IBF junior lightweight crown when he lost to Japanese Kenichi Ogawa in the US eight months earlier.
Despite being a highly-touted boxer, Fuzile's stock has taken a big knock though only he is only 27 years old.
A combination of factors, including being caught in a management crisis, while his social life also reared its ugly head, led to detractors wondering if he could recapture the form which made him the darling of SA boxing.
Having hopped from one stable to the other, including a stint in Johannesburg with some promoters making big promises to get him back on track, Fuzile has failed to convince fans that he is still on the level of elite boxers.
But his new manager Mla Tengimfene is confident the southpaw has what it takes to again climb the international boxing ladder and possibly win a world title.
Fuzile joined Tengimfene's All Winners Boxing and has reportedly not looked back since early 2023.
“I wish people could see how committed Fuzile is to recapture his past form,” Tengimfene said.
“No-one pushes him in training so we are taking him back to the junior lightweight which as some might know he was unable to make.”
Tengimfene will unleash the 'new' Fuzile against Emmanuel Amos of Tanzania in a junior lightweight non-title clash in Komani.
He already has plans mapped out for the southpaw who went by the “Golden Boy” moniker due to a slew of gold medals he won in the amateur ranks.
Having caught the attention of the world boxing scene when he first knocked out Briton Martin Ward in a world title eliminator, which earned him a shot at the vacant belt against Ogawa in the US, Fuzile will not start from scratch to convince sanctioning world bodies to rank him.
Tengimfene said the plan was to give Fuzile another bout after the Komani fight before steering him to the world ratings.
“This should not be hard because fortunately world boxing already knows him so it will be a matter of getting a couple of wins under his belt and he will be back in the world ratings.”
Fuzile's loss to Ogawa was just his second in 18 bouts, having also suffered a defeat to Tajikistan-born Russian Shavkat Rakhimov who later went on to win the IBF belt.
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