Fuzile looks beyond new SA champ Kanyisa

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Fight fans from the Eastern Cape who expect Azinga “Golden Boy” Fuzile to chase newly crowned SA junior lightweight champ Katlego “Black Cat” Khanyisa must forget the idea.

“That fight won’t happen,” said Fuzile’s manager Mlandeli Tengimfene, who made it clear that the boxer’s future is being directed towards a top-15 world ranking.

There was consideration that Fuzile, who is rated highly in the junior lightweight division, would be sent out to end Khanyisa’s reign.

Khanyisa from Tembisa dethroned Asanda Gingqi as the national title holder last weekend.

Tengimfene was quick to dispel any notion of Fuzile being used as a hired gun to avenge Gingi’s loss simply because both fighters are from the Eastern Cape.

“We are not in business to derail growing kids,” said Tengimfene. “Azinga will be in action in East London in December.”

He said the plan is for Fuzile to fight for an international or intercontinental title. “The most important thing for Azinga is to be in the top 15 ratings in the world,” said Tengimfene, whose charge is rated No 29 globally.

The left-handed fighter from Duncan Village has been a professional boxer since 2014 and has worked his way up on the local scene.

He showed his true potential by easily beating ring veterans Tshifhiwa “Spider” Munyai and Malcolm “The Stone” Klassen with stoppages.

Those wins against the former world champions came after he outboxed Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov before the Russian stopped him in the eighth round, amid controversy, in an IBF title eliminator at the Orient Theatre in KuGompo City in 2019.

That defeat was Azinga’s first after 14 straight wins, with eight coming via the short route.

He bounced back, stopping experienced Englishman Martin Joseph Ward in the second round in the US, before losing to Kenichi Ogawa in his attempt to win the vacant IBF junior lightweight title in the US in 2021.

Some boxing pundits feel Fuzile’s previous handlers had no adequate plan to build him. They rushed him into big fights, and he couldn’t swim with the sharks.

He only teamed up with successful boxing manager Tengimfene in recent years.

The feeling is that Tengimfene can still save the 30-year-old talented fighter by taking him to a sports scientist to check how far down he can go in weight.

That is because some believe he belongs in the featherweight class.