FEMALE prostitutes in skimpy dresses line the off- ramp to Leaches Bay settlement, better known as Amagali Abomvu, with some openly flaunting their breasts in an attempt to lure customers from passing vehicles.
As cars drive by, the girls flutter their eyelids in an open advertisement for their services.
As the story goes, many unsuspecting individuals have used those services with disastrous consequences as some of the girls apparently work in tandem with delinquent youths in the area to trap and rob their would-be-clients.
“Yes they come from this area and many deal in drugs so they use all sorts of tricks to trap people,” Asandiswa Nxokwana, who hails from the area, reveals.
“They openly practice prostitution and this is the state of the youth from here.”
In order to avoid such distractions, Nxokwana decided to join a local boxing gymnasium owned by Prettyboy Phethela. Since then she has made her mark in the sport as she became the South African featherweight champion in only her sixth professional bout.
At 20 years of age, the southpaw lass knows about the hardships of growing up in the area as her family lives in a shack.
“My mother is not working so we battle to make ends meet, but thankfully our step-dad is able to ease the burden,” she says.
This is a story typical of almost all the households in the area as poverty and unemployment is rife, despite the East London Industrial Development Zone being just a stone’s throw away.
It is against this backdrop that Phethela decided to give up his shack and turn it into a boxing gym to dissuade the youth from participating in criminal activities.
Phethela grew up in Duncan Village, in the heartland of crime, where he and his cronies robbed people, broke into houses and even stabbed their victims when they did not get their way.
“By then we did not care about our victims; in fact it was fun doing that until I realised it was taking me to nowhere other than hell,” Phethela recalls.
“When some of my friends ended up in jail, and some died on their swords, I decided to quit and aligned myself with boxing.”
Phethela opened an all-star boxing club in Mdantsane before relocating to Leaches Bay to continue with his mission of using boxing as a tool to fight crime.
But he admits it has been a daunting task to lure the youth of the area into the sport as his gym, aptly named United Youth Boxing Club, boasts only five boxers.
Nxokwana is the only female boxer in the gym, which would normally mean that improvisation has to be made during sparring sessions.
But, when asked who Nxokwana spars with, Phethela says: “There is neither girl nor boy here because everybody spars with anyone.”
The lanky southpaw laughs when asked if male boxers hold back in sparring sessions with her.
“Like Bra Jola says, everyone is treated equally here so there is no holding back in sparring sessions.”
Inside the dilapidated shack, a pair of cheap-looking boxing gloves hang on the wall near a big tractor tyre, which hogs most of the space.
A sledgehammer lies by the tyre and is used in an old-fashioned way to build strength and conditioning.
Two punch-bags and a speed-ball cram the rest of the space.
“We are unable to train here when it is raining because water floods this shack,” Phethela says.
Nxokwana is the star of the gym and right now all the attention is focused on her as she prepares for the maiden defence of her crown against Ntombozuko Nonina from Rustenburg at East London’s Orient Theatre on May 31.
With just one loss to her name – believing she was robbed against Nonina’s sister Bukiwe in her first fight – Nxokwana captured the crown last December when she beat Rita Muleba at Mdantsane Indoor Centre.
Having started boxing with no fighting background, she had to learn on her feet.
“She did not know how to throw a punch when she came here but she is a good listener so she quickly learnt the technique,” Phethela says.
Now Nxokwana aims to conquer the world so she can build her family a proper house.
“I also want to help Bra Jola build a proper gym because he is trying to uplift the community,” she says.
The gym was boosted by the arrival of Mncedi Yokose, one of the famous Yokose twins, whose mother also owned a shack in the area.
With three losses in 14 fights Mncedi and his brother Wele briefly stayed in the area before moving to Mdantsane.