The imprisonment of former world boxing champion Thabo Sonjica has brought into focus boxers arrested for rape.
While a good number of boxers have been incarcerated over the years for various offences, rape features prominently among the charges.
The DispatchLIVE has learnt that at least two other East London boxers, former Eastern Cape mini-flyweight champion and one-time SA challenger Thobani Mbangeni and Lulamile Booi are serving lengthy sentences for rape.
Luyanda Kana, a former inmate who served a lengthy term for political reasons, manages the rehabilitation of boxers who served jail terms, encouraging them to follow a career in boxing.
“Some of them are rehabilitated but a good number regress and return to prison,” he said.
While no one can put a finger on the problem the perception is that because boxers compete in a “violent way” some of them use this violence outside the ring. There are several boxers who have swapped the ring for prison cells.
Mzukisi Roberts’ case is one of the most prominent.
Roberts was once allowed to participate in a professional boxing clash while serving a lengthy term for armed robbery at Mdantsane Prison, coincidentally where Sonjica will serve his six-year sentence.
Roberts was accompanied by prison warders to the ring, but it later transpired that the bout had been illegally organised, forcing Boxing SA to expunge it from the record books.
Roberts was only permitted to box after being released on parole and his case was used by the national department of correctional services as a flagship for its rehabilitation programme, with Kana assisting him in his boxing career.
But Roberts transgressed again and landed back in prison after committing the same offence. There are several others who have used their ring craft to rehabilitate themselves, including former SA featherweight champion Sabelo Jubatha and Dumisani Maka who is now running a successful business.
On the international scene, former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is probably the most notable boxer to serve a prison term for rape.
While some used their time in prison to turn their lives around, others do not even make an effort to rehabilitate...