‘Hawk’ Makepula is the joker in the Olympic team, but in the ring he’s deadly serious
BOXING: Julian Drew
IN the first round of the All Africa Games boxing tournament in Harare last year the opponent of South Africa’s light-flyweight contestant failed to come to his corner. As Masibulele “Hawk” Makepula did a mock victory dance to the South African team’s cheer song which resembled something between a toyi toyi and the hippy, hippy shake, he was highlighting both attributes for which he is best known.
His terrifled Zimbabwean adversary had surely been forewarned of Makepula’s growing reputation by the amawethu, who must have informed him he would be better off staying in bed that day. But his celebratory jig also displayed his sense of humour which has made him the unofficial team comedian.
If it is true to say that Makepula was born into boxing it must be equally true to say that an inordinately large funny bone was born into him. Makepula’s father, Phakamile, was also a light flyweight who finished his professional career in 1986. Makepula spent a lot of time in and around boxing halls as a child in Eziphunzana (Duncan Village) outside East London. In 1979, at the age of six, he boxed in exhibition bouts to entertain the crowds before the real business got under way.
But three years down the line he discovered the hard stuff, the real opiate of the masses. He became a soccer player. It wasn’t until 1987 that the art of pugilism once again found his favour while he was at boarding school in King Williams Town. “We were waiting to play soccer out on the field but there was no ball so I decided to go in the school hall where the boxers were training. I just wanted to shadow box and work up a sweat. “The boxers kept calling to me to come and spar with them. I couldn’t go back outside without fighting with them because they would have thought I was afraid,” says Makepula. If there is one thing you can’t accuse Makepula of it’s fear. He promptly bruised a few egos and became the talk of the school.
“My class mates wanted me to start boxing after that because they knew I liked Welcome Ncita,” says Makepula. He joined the East London Youth’s Boxing Club in Eziphunzana and boxed there when he was home at weekends or on holiday. Makepula immediately stood out as a bold and courageous fighter who understood the nuances of the game. “I was always watching boxing, even while I was playing soccer, and I got to know a lot about it. I could watch a fight and say,’If this boxer does this and this he can win.’ I was usually right and I learnt what boxing was all about. When I started boxing I was very confident because I already knew what to do,” says Makepula.
The following year, just before he was due to go to the South African junior championships, his family moved to Mdantsane and he joined the famous Eyethu Boxing Club. The club has an amateur section and Makepula came under the wing of the club’s amateur coach, Lennox “Boyboy” Mpulampula.
He was also getting lessons from his hero, Ncita, from whom he took his ring name of Hawk. Makepula went off to the national junior championships and, full of new ideas, won the spiderweight title. Moving up through the weight divisions as he grew bigger (but not as big as everyone else) he continued to win the South African title each year. Then in 1991 he lost to Fana Twala in the light flyweight final in only his second year as a senior. Twala went to the Barcelona Olympics the following year and then turned professional. “I also wanted to turn professional but I wanted to become the first Olympic champion from East London so I decided to wait until after Atlanta,” says Makepula.
Heady dreams indeed for an 18-year-old who was only ranked number three in South Africa. But today he is being tipped as a potential Olympic gold medallist in Atlanta, particularly by those who have never seen him fight and wouldn’t know a southpaw from a pawpaw.
The strange workings of amateur boxing judges ensure, however, that there is very rarely a safe bet for a medal in an amateur boxing tournament. One need look no further than Makepula’s light flyweight division at the last Olympics to realise that. Eric Griffin of America, who was the undisputed world number one having won the 1989 and 1991 world titles, lost a ludicrously one-sided fight against Spain’s Rafael Lozano. The Spaniard was so far below Griffin in the world rankings he’d have got dizzy just looking for him. But the judges had it 6-5 to Lozano and Griffin was homeward bound. Having said that there is no denying that Makepula has made incredible progress over the past few years. With lady luck on his side he could get the draw and fair decisions he would need to allow his talent to do the talking in Atlanta.
Looking at the results from his last international tournament his talent says he can get a medal.
At the Chemistry Cup in Germany in March Makepula produced the best display of his career to date. The tournament has been an AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association) ranking tournament for the past 24 years and this year the standards were particularly high. Many European teams used it as preparation for the European championships which were their qualifiers for Atlanta a few weeks down the line. Makepula fought his way to the semi-final where he came up against Cuba’s classy Juan Ramirez, one of the best boxers in the light flyweight division. “I saw him at the world championships last year and although he didn’t win the title he was the one who impressed me the most,” says Makepula. That is not surprising for the Cubans are the grand masters of amateur boxing. They won seven of the 12 weight divisions at the Barcelona Olympics and their technical proficiency is beyond comparison. Ramirez took bronze last year at the Berlin world championships but Makepula had studied him well. “I knew he has a high scoring rate and lands a lot of punches so I concentrated on making sure he didn’t score and took every opportunity I had to score a point. When you climb into that ring you must make sure that each and every blow will have an effect,” says Makepula. The big hearted Xhosa who struggles to make the 48kg weight limit beat the Cuban 9-7 on points. In the final he faced Germany’s Olympic bronze medallist Jan Quast. “It was a much easier fight than the semi-final and I thought I won it easily. The German was running away from me from the beginning. He wasn’t interested in fighting me but they gave the decision to him 14-9,” says Makepula. It was a funny decision that obviously didn’t appeal to the funny man’s sense of humour. But the Olympic team’s coach, Bodo Andreass who was an East German international boxer, believes it was more a case of Makepula being tired after his taxing fight the day before. “All the boxers who are going to Atlanta can box very well now but we mustn’t look to just one fight. They need to build up more endurance because to win a gold medal in Atlanta they must fight five times. There is a lot of work to be done on general training and they must work on their special attacks. You need a special kind of cleverness to win an Olympic medal and they must still work on that,” says Andreass. His influence on the team’s high standards is immeasurable and the funny man doesn’t laugh when he hears this. The quest for Olympic glory is no laughing matter and when Andreass says there’s work to be done Makepula knows there is serious business at hand. No winners in clash of the tournaments