By Mathselane Mamabolo
South Africa’s Sportsman of the Year is confident he will end the year as IBF flyweight champion, having submitted himself to a rigorous training regime before heading to Yokohama, Japan.
Beneath Moruti Mthalane’s steely determination lies a strong desire to succeed following a long acquaintance with adversity. When that success came, with the 37-year-old having been a two-time world boxing champion, his determination and personality didn’t change. Unlike many South African sportsmen who become complacent – arrogant even – when they reach the top, Mthalane knows it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye.
As such, he subscribes to the mantra “to live like a king, you must work like a slave”. I spent two and a half hours watching him slave away at the Hot Box Gym on Grenville Avenue in Savoy Estate, Johannesburg, ahead of the third defence of his IBF flyweight title. He’ll be fighting Japanese legend Akira Yaegashi in Yokohama, Japan, on Monday 23 December. To say I was awestruck would be putting it mildly.
Nothing was left to chance as Mthalane covered just about every possible scenario that could come up in the fight with trainer Colin Nathan and his assistant, Vusi Mtolo. Mthalane was made to do everything for the three minutes that a round lasts in boxing. He pounded the punching bag for a good three rounds, moving about as if in a fight.
Then he went four solid rounds in the ring with Nathan, who allowed Mthalane to be the aggressor with the boxer from Maritzburg peppering his trainer with myriad punches that showcased the all-round talent that he is. The left jab dictated matters and was delivered with the kind of power sure to wear an opponent down. Nathan called for the right hook, the straight right, the upper cuts and roundhouse punches – and Mthalane delivered.
“Moruti’s discipline is second to none. He is consistently training and hardly ever gains weight,” Nathan says as we settle down for a chat. “I think he is one of a few boxers who really understands that this is his job. He respects everything about it.”
That respect is evident as Mthalane goes a further four rounds with Mtolo, the boxer taking instructions from the assistant just as well as he did from his main trainer. In this session, Mtolo puts Mthalane on the back foot to train him to find a way to score points while retreating. He crowds him, roughs him up a bit and tries to frustrate him by holding and pushing him on to the ropes.
Finishing stronger
The way Mthalane reacts during this type of training shows why he has only lost twice in a 40 pro fight career spanning 19 years. He punches his way out of the clinch, delivering hooks to Mtolo’s covered ribs or uppercuts to the belly. It is a rough four rounds, a scrap really. But the champion is clearly up for everything Yaegashi – a former world champion in three different weight divisions – will throw at him.
Most impressive was what they do in the final 10 seconds of each round. Nathan and Mtolo both hold up their hands, wearing boxing pads, for Mthalane to deliver a flurry of punches until the bell tolls. Tiring at the end of the round, the man nicknamed Babyface had to dig deep and “steal” the round with an exciting finish.
“The nature of boxing is such that the judges put down their score after the bell. And we know that a lot of them are often swayed by what they witness late on, instead of what transpires throughout the two minutes and 50 seconds. So we want to make sure that Moruti steals the rounds if he has to, although our main plan is to obviously win every round from the onset,” Mtolo explains.
And he is sure he will celebrate Christmas as world champion. “I am going to beat him,” Mthalane says matter-of-factly. “Sure he is a great boxer and I respect him. But I am in great shape. Nothing has disturbed my training this time around.”
Bouncing back from personal loss
He then reveals something that would probably have left many a man so disturbed they would have lost focus.
“Before my last defence [against Masayuki Kuroda in Tokyo in May], I lost my five-month-old daughter in early March. She had been ill and she passed away. It was really a tough time and we decided to keep it a secret because I was busy with training.
“There was nothing I could do about it. I believe that if you cannot change something, you must just live with it. It was hard for me to lose my daughter. But I had support from everyone around me, especially from my mother. She helped my wife and I stay strong.”
Source: https://www.newframe.com/moruti-mthalane-a-hardworking-champion%ef%bb%bf/