IBF flyweight champion ‘’Babyface’’ Mthalane off to Japan

Boxing trainer Colin Nathan and International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion Moruti ‘’Babyface’’ Mthalane left South Africa for Japan on Sunday, to defend his title against Japanese flyweight champion Masayuki Kuroda on Monday, 13 May.

This is going to be Mthalane’s second defence of the title he won when he defeated Pakistani Muhammad Waseem in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July last year.

Mthalane stopped Japanese boxer Masahiro Sakamota in the 10^th round in his first defence in Hong Kong in December last year.

Nathan, who won the 2017 Trainer of the Year accolade at the last edition of the South African Boxing Awards in Port Elizabeth in February last year, says they left for Japan early in order to make sure that they adapt well in the Asian country.

The Johannesburg-based boxing trainer added that Mthalane is focused ahead of this fight and does not mind fighting away from home as he is used to battling it out in foreign conditions.

The 36-year-old Mthalane’s last two fights were away from home in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Nathan is grateful after he was nominated in the Trainer of the Year category at the South African Boxing Awards.

This is the third successive edition of the SA Boxing Awards that Nathan has been nominated having won the last time and lost out to East London-based trainer Mzamo Njekanye at the 2016 awards.