Boxing is a vital tool for personal transformation and economic survival rather than merely a pastime for Ellen Simwaka.
A single mother of a 17-year-old daughter, she looks after six family members back home in Lilongwe in Malawi.
Her 58-year-old mother is asthmatic, but she still grows potatoes and tomatoes to keep the home fires burning.
Simwaka’s three brothers and three sisters are unemployed.
Nicknamed “Tigress”, 34-year-old Simwaka is a breadwinner.
Bagging the vacant IBO junior lightweight title on Saturday night, she says, will change her life and those of her family for the better.
Trained by Vusi Mtolo in Edenvale, east of Johannesburg, Simwaka will face Bernice “The Badger” Ferreira at the Wild Coast Sun in Bizana.
Their 10-rounds fight will be the main event of Fighters Club Promotion — whose owner Terry Anne Hart has dubbed it “Battle @ the Coast”.
Victory, which I believe I will accomplish on Saturday, will make my fight record better and surely my world ranking will improve
— Ellen Simwaka
Simwaka — who has already won the IBF and WBF Africa International and Intercontinental bantamweight titles — will jump up two weight divisions to face Ferreira.
“I fought at lightweights in Dubai and I thought I had won the fight which I lost outside the ring,” said Simwaka who has 14 wins, eight by knockouts, seven losses and two draws to her name.
“Victory, which I believe I will accomplish on Saturday, will make my fight record better, and surely my world ranking will improve.”
She stepped in as a replacement for her countrywoman, Adidya “Lioness” Mimu, whose poor health forced her out of the fight, which was supposed to have happened two weeks ago.
Simwaka and 22-year-old Adidya train clients to earn money while waiting to secure boxing fights for themselves.
“I buy and sell different kinds of items at home,” said Simwaka.
“Training clients also helps us, although we don’t have as many as we would like.
“When one of us has a fight, the other one focuses on clients.
“So winning the IBO title will get me big fights with better purse money, and my life and that of my family will change.”
She would not divulge the amount of money Hart is paying her, but said it was “better”.
Simwaka relocated to South Africa in 2018. She has more experience than her foe — the SA champion — who remains undefeated after nine fights.
Rated at No 12 in the world by BoxRec.Com, Simwaka is confident she will defeat Ferreira, whose skills are honed in Kibler Park by Arafaat Kock.
Ferreira — like Simwaka — is driven by hopes to change everything around her, including family, surroundings, and perhaps also to inspire the youth in Fietas, where she was born, and Claremont, where she lives.
Those two areas are battling with high rates of unemployment, crime, drugs, and prostitution.
Ferreira, 34, has boxed since 2023. She won the Gauteng belt in 2024 and the national title in Hart’s tourney in November.
Sowetan
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