Boxing SA rallies behind Lerato Dlamini ahead of his IBF title eliminator in Japan

In what will be a rematch between Dlamini and Kameda, the fight will take place at the Yamato Arena in Suita, in Osaka, on Saturday.

Dlamini previously scored a stunning upset with a 12-round split decision over Kameda in Tokyo in October last year. Speaking to SABC Sport, Shongwe says Dlamini’s success in this fight is critical for the country's image of boxing.

"Dlamini's fight is very critical, you know IBF eliminator, it's a great opportunity for the young man. We are behind him 100%, we'd like to see more of our boxers getting these kinds of opportunities,” Shongwe said.

“Being able to be in great fights that are meaningful on the world stage. I mean it's a shame that we didn't have even a single boxer at these Olympics, it speaks to a need to aggregate from a development standpoint to create opportunities for our boxers to be challenged, to get good competition so when they get to the world stage, they are ready."

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With IBF junior flyweight world champion Sive Nontshinga the only credible world champion in the country and on the continent, Shongwe says it’s vital that the country has more boxers at this level. Dlamini comes to this fight rated no.1 ahead of the former two-weight world champion.

"If you look at when Nontshinga captured the title, how he turned that fight around, not many fighters are equipped to do that. As a boxer you walk in with plan A when plan A is not working, you move to plan B, not many fighters have a plan B, C, or any other plan and they need to dig deep," he added.

"So, we are hoping in this looking to increase activity, we can bring in [more competition] and I spoke to fighting the right fighters on the ratings to move your career and advance your career but also giving them international exposure, bringing on the younger stage the kind of international boxers that will give them and help them adapt their brand and style of boxing for the international stage to get into a stage where they make strategies."