By Linda Ximba
South Africa’s future world boxing champion, Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni, is determined to make the most of another big opportunity.
The talented and outspoken Ndongeni has secured an international junior welterweight non-title fight against Labadarius Miller, to be held in the USA in May.
At the peak of his promising career in 2019 he was pitted against American Devin Haney, but failed to win the then vacant WBC International and WBO Inter-Continental lightweight titles.
He didn’t lose to a nobody – Haney is currently the undisputed world champion, holding the World Boxing Federation, WBA, International Boxing Federation, WBO and The Ring belts.
When Ndongeni lost that bout after 25 straight wins, he was rated number four by the World Boxing Association, which is one of the four highly recognised organisations in the field.
“That loss against Devin set me back because I had a grand plan to ascend to a bigger stage against big boys.
“But on the other hand, the defeat enabled me to do some introspection and that’s why I have only suffered a single loss before registering more than six wins,” Ndongeni told Scrolla.Africa.
In his next fight Ndongeni is expected to earn just over R1 million – motivating him to know everything there is to know about his opponent.
“I know what to expect from Labadarius. I trained with him at Floyd Mayweather Junior’s gym in Las Vegas in 2017. I will beat him; he poses no threat. I want to get back to where I used to be,” he said.
Ndongeni goes into the fight boasting a record of 31 wins (18 knockouts) against two losses while Miller has won 21 of his 23 fights with only six knockouts.
In his last fight at the ESPN Africa Boxing 23 event in November last year in Durban the Mthatha-born Ndongeni scored a seventh-round knockout win over Thailand’s Apinun Khongsong in their international junior welterweight clash.
He said his purse money would be good: “I will be paid $60,000 (around R1,03m) for 10 rounds.”
Pictured above: Xolisani Ndongeni
Image source: Boxing Scene
