EL boxer booted from Joburg gym
Maxhayi’s poor work ethic puts him on ropes with trainer Weinstein
Shortly after being one of three boxers who left East London in a huff, Mfusi Maxhayi is giving Johannesburg trainers a headache with his apparent laziness, having already been fired from one gymnasium.
Maxhayi left the region together with former IBO world junior-featherweight champion Thabo Sonjica and ABU mini-flyweight king Ayanda Ndulani to join Ricky Weinstein’s gym in Johannesburg.
But after only a week under the new trainer, he was shown the door for laziness and ill- discipline.
This comes at a time when he has an upcoming featherweight fight against Lerato Dlamini in Mdantsane on December 9.
Weinstein confirmed that he could not tolerate Maxhayi’s laziness.
“I cannot work with boxers who do not want to work so I told him to leave my gymnasium,” he said.
Maxhayi, a talented yet lazy boxer from Ilitha, was left stranded in the streets of Johannesburg with no place to stay or train, as a result.
Someone alerted Harry Ramogoadi-Manaka who had just opened his gymnasium VIP Boxing Academy in Benoni.
The gymnasium which was scheduled to be opened next year has living quarters and Ramogoadi-Manaka took him in.
“I was told that Maxhayi had been kicked out of the place he was training in and had no place to stay so I took him in,” Ramogoadi-Manaka, a former professional boxer confirmed.
However since they teamed up about two weeks ago Ramogoadi-Manaka is also complaining about Maxhayi’s laziness.
This when he was hoping that the left-handed boxer would help him exact revenge on Dlamini for leaving him to join Colin Nathan.
This after Ramogoadi-Manaka took Dlamini from Bloemfontein and gave him a place to stay in his own home and helped him win his first six fights.
Ramogoadi-Manaka said Dlamini betrayed him after taking him in and treated him like his own son.
“Lerato was my son, staying in my house and I was basically doing everything for him until Nathan stole him,” he said.
“When Maxhayi joined me and heard that he was scheduled to face Dlamini I was happy because I saw that as an opportunity to avenge what he did to me.”
However so far Maxhayi’s indifference is making Ramogoadi-Manaka doubt if he will exact his revenge on Dlamini.
“Maxhayi reminds me of Ashley Dlamini [a lightweight boxer] who I once trained. He has abundance of skills but does not want to work hard.”
A former provincial bantamweight champion, Maxhayi is indeed a marvel to watch when his mind is on this fight but his indifference in training makes him a difficult boxer to work with.
This has seen him losing bouts he could have won, such as when he dropped a points decision to Bonakele Bhikitsha and Bongani Mahlangu for the SA junior-featherweight title to add to his seven losses in 21 bouts.
Due to his laziness promoters have been reluctant to bill him in their tournaments subjecting him to long spells of inactivity.
Ramogoadi-Manaka said he was pushing the boxer hard in training hoping that his skills might be enough to help him beat Dlamini...
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