Unsung hero. . . Kaizer Mabuza is a new boxing world champion but his hometown is oblivious to his feat.
Not every town can boast a world champion in any sport or activity. If such an occasion happens it must be welcomed with celebration and recognition by the winner’s townsfolk. Would you believe it, South Africa has a new sheep shearing world champion! And by that I am certainly not putting you out for woolgathering.
His name is Mayenzeke Shweni, and was crowned world champion in the blade shearer category on Saturday, at the World Shearing Championships held in Masterton, New Zealand. Shweni is from the farming town of Sterkspruit, in northern Eastern Cape, near the Lesotho border. And because of the vast distance between me and that area surrounded by Drakensberg mountains, I honestly would not know if the people of Sterkspruit – or the Ukhahlamba district municipality – are planning a welcome ceremony for their new champion of the world.
In case you thought I am pulling wool over your eyes, sheep-shearing is a widely recognized sport and in South Africa the Sheep Shearing Federation is properly affiliated with the Olympic sport controlling body, the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
So hats off to Shweni for beating the best blade shearers in the world to be crowned their king, in New Zealand to boot. The sweetener is that the silver medal was taken by another South African, Zweliwile Hans, who is a former three-time world champion. This calls for double celebration, whichever way you look at it.
Closer to home, and by that I mean my home town of Tembisa in Gauteng province, we also have a new world champion in Kaizer Mabuza. The “Hammer” as the boxing champion is also fearsomely known, finally became a world champion in his third attempt. On the same day Mayenzeke Shweni was cutting them to size in NZ, Mabuza stopped Australian Steven Willis to be crowned the new IBO junior-welterweight champion.
It was not a decent fight as Willis was docked a point as early as the first round for head-butting. Also in the opening round, Mabuza decked Willis and there were fears that the fight could have been a mismatch. Despite looking clumsy, the Australian was undefeated before he fell under the Hammer until the referee finally put an end to the assault in the sixth round.
Pretty or not, Mabuza, my homeboy, is the world champ finally and that’s what counts. Even more significant about the victory is that it happened at the Emperors casino in Kempton Park, Tembisa’s twin city. The major disappointment about Mabuza’s victory is that Tembisa is not abuzz about his achievement. In fact it's like the people do not know that they have a momentous occasion like this one to celebrate. The fight was on satellite TV, but on the channel many people do not have access to as they are clients of DStv’s limited package option.
The fight was not on the radio either. But that too is no excuse because it happened on our doorstep and the widely read local newspaper carried the preview a week earlier. Even Mabuza tried his best to hype up the fight, by arriving at the pre-medical conference at the Emperors carrying a heavy hammer.
Detractors say the IBO belt is not credible, but the organization is an official sanctioning body for world championships. Perhaps the haters would want to get into the ring and put the weight of their argument to a good test.
But more than the critics, it is the Tembisa folks who owe Mabuza more than anyone else. If a champion is not recognized in his own territory, where else would he be admired?
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