Boxing South Africa Awards in the pipeline
Colin Nathan once again up for Trainer of the Year.
One of the highly contested categories in the Boxing South Africa (BSA) Awards on May 17 is that of the Trainer of the Year.
The BSA Awards will take place in Johannesburg.
That Colin Nathan’s name once again features prominently on the list is no surprise following the work he has done in mentoring some of the country’s top talent, including Moruti Mthalane and Azinga Fuzile, to mention a few.
The 2017 Trainer of the Year Award winner, Nathan, says he is honoured to have been nominated three times in a row.
After losing out to Mzamo Njekanye at the 2016 BSA Awards ceremony in Durban, Nathan bagged the 2017 award in Port Elizabeth, having beaten competitors Sean Smith, Alan Toweel and Mhikiza Myekeni.
“This is a very humbling experience and I’m grateful to the public for voting me in to be in this platform. I’m grateful to be here and I love boxing with my heart and soul,’’ Nathan, who led International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane to victory over Masayuki Kuroda in Japan on Monday.
“But I need to thank the fighters who chose me to be their trainer. We got great results last year and I think last year was undoubtedly the best year in my career. I got the Ring Magazine belt and it was the first time in 69 years that South Africa had a Ring Magazine belt. I think people looked at my results after I went on the road to pick up championship belts.’’
Nathan led Hekkie Budler to IBF, World Boxing Association (WBA) and Ring Magazine glory after he defeated Japanese boxer Ryoichi Taguchi in May last year. Nathan was also in Mthalane’s corner when he lifted the IBF belt following a win over Muhammad Waseem last July.
