The South African challenger has had a protracted and unusual build-up to his fight in Sheffield this weekend Gavin Evans
Mbulelo Botile is under no illusions: fall short against Paul Ingle on Saturday night and his career is effectively over. Which is why his preparations for this big event in Sheffield have been curious, to say the least.
The factors inhibiting success can be divided into those within his control and those outside his control. The latter include the fact that this fight has been postponed four times because of injury and promotional wrangles, and perhaps more pertinently, the fact that Botile has not thrown a punch for pay for over a year since winning a final eliminator against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Hector Lizarraga last November.
That fight set in motion a range of events within Botile’s control. Early this year Botile was a satisfied if sometimes errant member of Mzi Mnguni’s thriving gym in East London. His promoter, Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves, was busy negotiating the fine print with Panos Promotions for a shot at Ingle’s title.
Mnguni told me at the time that he was cautiously sanguine about Botile’s chances. “When it comes to natural talent, there is no comparison Mbulelo is streets ahead of Ingle,” he said in July. “He’s always been a clever, scientific boxer, a great counter-puncher who took very few shots. He’s a good puncher not always devastating in his early years, but he lands with outstanding accuracy and he also has a very good eye and extremely sharp reflexes, although he still has this tendency to rely too much on his intelligence and skill.”
But Mnguni has never been one to overhype his boxers. “Botile’s problem is that he is lazy. He’s a boxer who only does as much as he has to, which means he often doesn’t throw enough punches, and you can’t get away with that against a pressure fighter like Ingle. That is something we will have to work on.”
They got down to work, but then, rather suddenly, after the third postponement, it all fell apart. Four months ago Mnguni discovered his boxer was in the United States. “I found out that a local boxing agent the same guy who promised the world to Welcome Ncita a few years ago had persuaded Mbulelo he could get a better deal with Don King, so off he went but King wasn’t interested.”
At about the same time Berman received a letter from the New York boxing manager and former King aid Mike Marley, asking whether it was true that Botile had been paid only 5?000 for the Botile fight. “Actually, he was paid a bit more than that, but Botile didn’t understand that there was nothing in it for us and he didn’t appreciate how much effort we put into getting him the Ingle fight. We lost $60 000 on the Lizarraga promotion because our sole aim was to secure the mandatory contender’s position for Botile.”
Botile joined his former American assistant trainer Terry “Baba” Stotts, who Mnguni had fired for alleged drunkenness a few years earlier. Berman decided to cut his losses rather than to sue for breach of contract, and allowed Botile to go his own way, with the fight rescheduled for November.
Mnguni was dismissive about his former boxer’s chances. “Botile has a problem with discipline,” he told me at the time. “I’m not saying he’s a big drinker himself, but he loves to party and he doesn’t behave between fights, so the combination of Botile and Baba may not be such a healthy one. I hope I’m wrong but right now I don’t give him much chance of victory.”
But then things changed again. First, Frank Maloney parted ways with Panos Eliadis and joined up with Frank Warren’s Sports Network promotions, and Ingle followed him. Then Botile decided he’d made a mistake, and returned to Mnguni with his tail between his legs. Berman once again took over as his promoter, Mnguni agreed to work with Stotts again and it was back to business as usual. Except this time the fight went to purse bids, won by Sports Network.
It’s now all smiles in the Botile camp. “The way I see it now is that Mbulelo made a little slip on the road, he went down the wrong track, but that’s in the past,” says Mnguni. “And Baba and I are working very well together. We both know what we did wrong, and we both know what we have to do to make it right.”
Botile sounded contrite about his defection. “I lost my mind for a bit and left Mzi, but I’m really pleased to be back, and I’m very happy with the way everything is going now.”
And to complete the picture Berman insists the resolution to the dispute came in time to secure victory. “I was very upset when Botile defected, but I understand it too. He was promised the world, and when it didn’t happen he realised he’d made a mistake and went back to Mzi and now he’s really up for the fight. He knows that if he doesn’t win, there’s no second chance, so he’s training extremely hard. Ingle will keep coming forward and will be there for Botile to hit, and Botile does hit hard.”
At the age of 28, with three children to support, Botile knows what is at stake. One of five sons and a daughter of a Port Elizabeth factory worker, he grew up extremely poor and does not want to return to the world of his childhood. Before his first birthday he was sent to live with his grandparents in the township of Duncan Village, outside East London. It was a matchbox house, with makeshift shacks at the back to accommodate the overflow from the extended family, and food was often scarce.
He took to boxing at the age of 10 and was immediately noticed as a lad with immense potential. He lied about his age to get a professional licence and had his first fight a week after his 17th birthday in July 1989. But he struggled to get action and in 1992 decided to cross town and join Mnguni’s gym in Mdantsane township.
Botile was not given much of a chance when he challenged the world-rated, highly experienced Derrick Whiteboy a veteran of nearly 40 outings who had not been beaten in six years. Botile had 11 fights to his name, but Mnguni was convinced he would win, and the youngster prevailed in style, picking up an easy decision.
This victory set him up for a fight with the big-hitting Harold Mestre for the IBF world title, and once again Botile pulled off an upset, He proved to be too quick for the Colombian and knocked him out with a right to the temple in the second round. He raked up five defences in two years, including an 11th-round knockout over the fancied Ancee Gideon in Rhode Island, and he looked to be the class of the division.
However, it all fell apart when he defended against Olympic champion Tim Austin in July 1997. Botile, who had been fighting at bantamweight since the age of 15, struggled to make the weight and despite breaking Austin’s jaw early in the fight he couldn’t press his advantage and was stopped in the eighth round. “I don’t want to make excuses but I was very tight and very weak at bantamweight for that fight,” he says.
He moved up two divisions to featherweight but struggled to regain the form of his early years. In late 1998 he sustained multiple bruises and fractures when a car he was travelling in overturned. It took him several months to recover, and the medical expenses almost crippled him financially. After over 10 months out of the ring he returned with a split decision win over Lizarraga. Botile was not at his best taking more punches than usual and not throwing enough himself.
He says Ingle will be making a mistake if this is what he expects. “All the postponements have been frustrating but I’m ready. I’m super-fit for this fight 100 times better prepared than I was with Lizarraga. I know I haven’t always worked as hard as I should, but I promise you this time it is not like my past fights. I know he will be coming forward all the time but I will take the fight to him and you won’t find me moving back. I will use my jab to open him up and then I will break him.”
Stotts, who has now worked with him for four months, sees it as an easy fight. “If Mbulelo doesn’t throw enough punches he will walk away a broken man, because he knows he is better in every department, he knows this is his last chance and we have done everything possible in training. Paul Ingle is a good fighter but not a great one. I think Ancee Gideon was stronger than him, and Botile handled him with ease. Being tenacious is one thing, but Botile is prepared for it, and he’s physically stronger than Ingle and a harder puncher. Ingle has been down a lot in recent fights and I won’t be at all surprised if Botile knocks him out within a couple of rounds.”
At a broad-shouldered 1,55m Botile is slightly taller than Ingle and he’s now accustomed to the weight having his sixth featherweight fight. With 15 knockouts in 25 wins (one loss) he has proved to be a reasonably hard puncher at the elite level, particularly with his right cross, although it is notable that just two of his past five fights have ended inside the distance. The huge-hitting Austin is the only person to drop him as a professional.
Ingle, on the other hand, has been dropped six times, five of them in his past three fights. Botile’s backers add that the champion has yet to beat a world-class fighter anywhere close to his prime Manuel Medina was severely shop-worn and Junior Jones was shot.
But all this may be academic. As Mnguni puts it: “Ingle’s skills are very basic but he’s extremely fit and aggressive and you can’t allow him to get on top of you. You have to keep on throwing because Ingle doesn’t like boxing off the back foot, so our job is to get Botile to work harder and to push Ingle back. I repeat what I said to you before: he has to fight for the full three minutes of each round and resist the temptation to go backwards. If he can do me that favour he will win the fight.”