WATCH | Hospitalised Zimbabwean boxer on the mend — Boxing SA

Zimbabwean boxer Ndodana “Black Hammer” Ncube appears to be out of danger but is still in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Witbank Hospital in eMalahleni, where he is being closely monitored by doctors after undergoing surgery to his head on Saturday.

That is according to Boxing SA’s provincial manager in Mpumalanga, Oupa Lubisi, who visited the 29-year-old fighter on Tuesday and at the weekend.

“He is showing signs of recovery,” said Lubisi. “He has been removed from the support machine and is breathing on his own but is still not able to talk.”

[ Ncube underwent surgeryOpens in new window ]

Asked if he tried to speak to him, Lubisi said: “I did, and the fingers on his right hand started moving, which to me said he can hear me. He even tried to open his eyes.”

It is almost certain that, after undergoing surgery, Ncube’s boxing career is over as further blows to his head could prove fatal.

His purse money for the eight-round bout he won on points against Capetonian Lunga “The Pressure Cooker” Sitemela on Friday evening was R15,000.

Their bout was staged by promoter Jane Lubisi of Ilanga Boxing Promotions. She is the wife of Lubisi’s older brother and retired professional boxer Abram Lubisi, from Mhluzi, Middleburg, in Mpumalanga.

Lubisi said Jane was with him at the hospital.

“She promised to give him all the support to make sure that he recovers,” he said.

Ncube went to the dressing rooms after the fight and changed into his clothes.

It is understood he then went to the toilet, where he started vomiting.

Lubisi, a former SA junior featherweight champion from Mhluzi who retired in 2005, said: “I called ringside doctors and paramedics who attended to him, and after examining him, they said he needed to be rushed to the hospital because his sugar levels had gone up.

“He was rushed to King Nyabela Hospital where he was admitted on Friday night.”

Lubisi said he drove to the hospital when the tournament ended.

“I found that he was in the ICU ward,” he said. “I came back on Saturday morning to find that Ncube had been transferred to Witbank Hospital for a CT scan.

“The doctors took him straight to the theatre where he was operated on.

“I received a call on Sunday morning that the operation was successful, but he was taken back to the ICU ward for observation, and he is still there right now.”

Lubisi said Boxing SA CEO Tsholofelo Lejaka, its COO Mandla Ntlanganiso and the boxer’s sister also visited Ncube on Saturday.

“He took a couple of shots to the head, but he never went down,” Lubisi said. “Sitemela went down in round seven but got up and continued the fight.”

Sowetan