Ricardo Malajika, thoroughly exhausted, ran his finger across his throat to signal the end of a training session this week. The gesture is often used by boxers as a crude prediction before fights, but in this case it was the cost of choosing to swim against the tide — going down in weight to win a world title.
The holder of the marginal IBO 52.2kg junior-bantamweight strap is challenging veteran Jackson Chauke for the IBO 50.8kg flyweight title at Emperors Palace on Saturday night in a rare local match-up where pundits are split on who’s going to win.
Malajika’s too slick and too young, say some, while others reckon Chauke’s experience will be key against a fighter who could be weakened by weight reduction.
Take your pick.
Malajika’s top was soaked in sweat and he sat down to cool off in his search to become only the fourth South African to go lighter to win a world title — after Baby Jake Matlala, Mzukisi Sikali and Hekkie Budler.
On the day I visited the Brian Mitchell boxing academy in Edenvale, Malajika was clearly spent, but that didn’t diminish the Magic Man’s bright smile. He readily admitted he was eating even less than he normally does at this stage before a fight. “It’s worth the sacrifice,” he said, adding he wasn’t too far above the flyweight limit.
Reiterating a dream
“I want to be a world champion in five weight divisions,” he said, reiterating a dream he has harboured for almost as long as I can remember.
He was the fourth of five brothers who boxed at an amateur gym in Johannesburg’s southern suburbs. Carlton, Louie, Dino, Ricardo and Charlton — the younger they got, the better they were.
And they had no free rides, living with their carpenter father Alex, who fled Mozambique in the early 1980s, and mother Joan in a couple of rooms of a house they shared with other families.
In an area flooded with drugs and crime, they thrived on church and boxing. And it wasn’t as if their South Hills gym, run at the time by Billy Hurford, ranked highly in the local amateur pantheon. Hurford dug into his own pockets to help his fighters where he could, like ensuring they ate before a tournament.
He played an important role, but Ricardo rode his talent all the way, winning national age-group titles. Charlton has followed him with similar determination and talent.
Malajika started out as a counter-puncher, using his lightning reflexes to strike first on the counter. Soon after Hurford died, he won the senior national amateur crown, displaying his raw gifts as well as one of his weaknesses — a tendency to throw long looping punches that leave him off balance when he misses.
Malajika turned professional soon afterwards — first under Anton Gilmore and then Vusi Mtolo — but since teaming up with veteran trainer Manny Fernandes, he has tightened up considerably.
Mentor
The boxer sees shades of Hurford in his new mentor. “He reminds me of Billy. He’s a loving guy, he likes to talk to you, he likes to engage, he likes to be in touch with the boxers, make sure he knows how they feel, and he explains the mistakes. That’s the way Billy taught us and it’s easy for us to listen to him because he does it in a way that doesn’t look like he’s pushing us.”
Halfway through the interview, Malajika removed his wet top, exposing burn scars along the right side of his torso and on his right hand, the result of a childhood accident. He was still crawling when he turned over an unattended bucket of boiling water — “the aunty” boiling the water had left to refill the pot — and he tipped the scalding water onto himself.
But Malajika has no recollection of it. “Apparently I was in ICU for a few months, but I don’t remember the pain, so now I always tell the guys that nothing can burn me.”
As a young boy he was embarrassed by the lesions, getting teased and being called names like “crocodile”. “I grew out of it, now I don’t care. It’s part of life.”
Malajika, who lives in Edenvale with his wife and “two beautiful daughters”, offered no trash talk or crude gestures towards his 39-year-old opponent, a 2008 Olympian who won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
“He was my role model as a kid. Every man has dreams and every dream takes courage. I have the courage to go after him. I rate him as one of the greatest guys I’m going to fight. He’s been in the game for so long. I’m going to learn a lot from this fight, and he’s going to [draw] the best out of me.”
The performance against Chauke will also give a clearer indication for fans wanting to compare Malajika to new WBO junior-bantamweight world champion Phumelela Cafu, who fought the veteran twice, drawing one and winning the other.
But Malajika doesn’t worry about that. “I don’t compare myself to no-one but myself. I’m more in a challenge with myself to see how far I can go.”
• The tournament will be broadcast live on SuperSport channel 209 from 7pm on Saturday.
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