Ring death haunts Liz Butler

Weeks after her opponent, Phindile Mwelase died from injuries during their boxing match, Liz Butler is still struggling to cope with what happened.


Speaking to The Citizen earlier this week, Butler said she was haunted by constant memories from October 10 in Pretoria, when Mwelase was knocked out in the sixth round of their eight-round match. She was rushed to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital where she went into a coma. She died about two weeks later and was buried in KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend.

“You see her going down and then you start shivering,” said Butler.

Mwelase’s father, Thulani said he had never had the opportunity to see her daughter fight but “at least she had died doing what she loved to do”.


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