Khumalo sets his sight on SA title after ABU success

By Ayanda Nyuswa 

KZN middleweight boxer Phikelelani “Stinger” Khumalo has set his sights back on the South African middleweight title after getting success in his first continental fight. Khumalo, who is a footballer turned Boxer after playing for the Golden Arrows and Mariztburg United Diski Challenge teams before turning to Boxing in 2020, captured the vacant African Boxing Union middleweight title with third round knock-out victory over Democratic Republic of Congo hard hitter Faustin Busaka in Durban on 7 September. Khumalo, who is trained by his father Mlindelwa Khumalo, got in the ring almost a year after his previous fight and had to recover from a first round knock-down to get a third round stoppage victory. 

“I feel over the moon, I am very happy this fight was important for my career it was important for South African fighters as a whole, I had to win this fight, I had a lot of pressure,” said Khumalo speaking exclusively to Gagasi FM Sports after his big win. 

“In the first round I was off balance and he caught me with an over hand punch behind my head and I fell. After I got up from there it was just a whitewash I was just punishing him, and he couldn’t take the punishment. We had a game plan and they also had a game plan, but our first game plan didn’t work because he was waiting for me, he wasn’t being offensive he was waiting for me to throw punches first. That’s how he caught me, so when I got up we switched to plan B which was to just bully him. So I just went straight to him and I was throwing hard punches non-stop, because I knew I trained for it I could do that for 12 rounds so I went for it, and he couldn’t take it.”

Khumalo believes this victory will provide a huge boost in his career as it now places him in the WBC rankings in World boxing. 

“This is big, this belt is the child of the WBC so right now I have entered the WBC World rankings and I have, if I am not mistaken 7 months to defend this title. If I am successful I will keep going up in the rankings until I am able to challenge for the WBC World title.”

Stinger’s record now stands at 9 fights, 7 wins (5 knockouts) and only 2 defeats suffered against DRC’s Mbiya Kanku and Jack Kaptein in 2022, and holds the ABU SADC title and the KZN Junior middleweight title. His last KZN title defence came in December 2023 with a knockout victory over Siphiwe Ntombela in Durban, a win that placed him in line to challenge for the SA title, currently held by John “Section 29” Bopape. Stinger says he is firmly focused on dethroning Bopape, before turining his attention to defending his newly captured ABU SADC title.

“Right now my main focus is on John Bopape who has the SA title, we are putting in the challenge. Right now I am next in line and he doesn’t seem to be scared to give me the fight so I am just waiting for that contract,” said Khumalo.

“I just feel like I am the better fighter, I have better skill. I don’t know about power, he has a lot of punching power like myself but I know what it takes to stop him. I am the challenger and if you are challenging for a title your whole deamenor changes, you have to go there and eat him alive and that’s what I have to go and do. It is a big fight, me and him have been calling each other out for years, we knew that this time would come he is a great fighter like myself, this fight is going to draw eyes to everyone in the Boxing community, this is a big big fight,” Khumalo concluded.