The life of a professional boxer, especially one who depends on earning a buck by getting inside the ring, is non-existent in SA – and if it was not for the new trend of boxers being personal fitness trainers, the situation would have been worse.
This is according to world champ Jackson Chauke, who is preparing for the first defence of the IBO flyweight crown against IBO junior bantamweight holder Ricardo Malajika.
The fight will headline Golden Gloves “Palace Pandemonium” card at Emperors Palace on March 1. Chauke's career is guided by Damien Durandt.
Boxers understand the risk that comes with their day job, especially holding pads which cause shoulders to dislocate (the upper arm bone pops out of the cup-shaped socket that's part of the shoulder blade). But that day job helps them keep the wolf from the door.
Chauke regards those who have that day job as being lucky to “earn something”. The 39-year-old married father of two boys said he last earned good money on January 27 when he won the IBO belt after defeating Kaisy Khademi over 12 rounds in England,
“Otherwise, it has been a situation of carefully protecting what I have and making sure that my children's school requirements are met, especially my first born who is in matric,” he said.
Chauke said some boxers were somehow inconsistent when fighting and people don't understand the cause. “You sign a contract for a fight, you stop training clients, and the fight is cancelled, then what?” he asked.
“You then pay attention to training clients because whatever you get is guaranteed,” he said adding that working as personal fitness trainers has become a serious job to many boxers. "You cannot rely on boxing here otherwise your mental state will be disturbed.”
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