Africa-Press – Lesotho. FROM a young age, Moroke Mokhotho seemed destined for the boxing ring — and his childhood friends can bear testimony. “My journey to boxing was influenced by the beastly instinct I harboured as a young lad,” said Mokhotho, a former Lesotho national team boxer who as a young boy used to pummel his age mates whenever they irritated him.
Yet, it was defeat in a makeshift ring that pushed him into professional boxing. Initially, his real love lay in football like the majority of boys in Lesotho and he had even bought a pair of soccer boots as he was intending to take the sport to a more professional level.
On closing day in December 2008, a classmate at Leqele High School made a suggestion that changed all that. “We were just wandering around the class waiting to be officially dismissed when an idea struck one of my friends to engage in a boxing match.
The boxing gloves were readily available so we quickly improvised a boxing ring by arranging desks into a circular shape in the classroom,” he recalled.
From that day, he exchanged his soccer boots for boxing gloves and that was after he had received a thorough beating from an opponent. One after the other, the boys took turns fighting and in no time Mokhotho’s turn came.
“I had initially undermined my opponent but the boy gave me the beating of my life. He mesmerised me with tricky jabs and I was left appalled by those spectacular fist displays,” recalled Mokhotho.
Outclassed, Mokhotho didn’t hesitate to congratulate him but yearned to know how the boy managed to fight so well. “That was when I discovered that he was actually training in boxing at the Makoanyane Barracks.
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Mokhotho decided to follow suit and began to train professionally, although he didn’t take the sport seriously at first despite receiving a warm welcome from the coach, Moses Kopo.
After a week of orientation training, Mokhotho gave up and continued with football. . . until a week later when he bumped into the boxing lad, on their way to training.
They criticised him for surrendering so early and convinced him to continue. “Upon my re-union, things had taken a wrong turn and everyone took turns sparing with everyone around.
Our captain Koko Lepaneng had instructed all round sparing. I suffered severe beatings that I could hardly breathe. However, I persisted to train rigorously in order to be at par with my counterparts,” he said.
Two months later, Mokhotho was now ready to get into the ring and face his opponents. In March 2009, he went on to battle in the National Championship, a tournament organised to select national team squad members for upcoming international games.
He defeated his first two opponents but lost the third battle and settled for a bronze medal. “From there, my confidence soared that I earned my first national call up in 2011 where I went to represent the national team in Maputo, Mozambique for the All Africa Games and managed to win a bronze medal,” Mokhotho said.
The following year, he was meant to represent the country in the Olympic Games in London but missed a flight at OR Tambo International airport in Johannesburg.
With his exceptional boxing talent, he has since travelled extensively across the globe, earning awards and representing the country in countries such as Brazil, Congo, Thailand and Australia.
“My most memorable fight was in 2016 at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Cameroon. I managed to fight in the semi-finals with one hand since my shoulder was dislocated,” he said.
Nonetheless, he has also faced tough opponents and he recalls Oteng from Botswana and one Evaristo from Zambia. Locally, he also had tough battles with Tlotlisang Matsepe from Mafeteng in 2010 and 2011.
Mokhotho has just resigned from elite boxing and has turned his attention to the administration side of the sport. “Now, I am a chairperson of the Athletes Commission and by virtue of being a chairperson I am a member of the Lesotho National Olympic Committee Board.
I am also an executive member of the Lesotho Boxing Association with the same portfolio as well as the Lesotho Badminton Association Ethics Chairperson.
“I have enrolled in the African Boxing Confederation Officials Committee as a newly appointed member, that means I am in the continental body that runs boxing in Africa,” Mokhotho said of his new roles.
He says boxing taught him discipline. Professional boxers are well trained experts and are governed by a code of conduct that stipulates that they must at all odds strive to refrain from engaging in violent acts with members of society.
Mokhotho has highlighted the importance of professional boxers living in harmony with the rest of the public and maintaining their cool in all respects.
“Boxers should not get involved in physical confrontations outside the ring, and also they should reject any act of harassment, sexual or otherwise, bullying and domestic violence,” said Mokhotho, who is now pushing for more female involvement in the sport.
“As the boxing fraternity, we are trying to lure women to take part in the sport as that would mean the growth of it.
I would like to assure them and allay their fears that boxing is for everyone. The golden rule in boxing is that if you work hard at training, the fight will be easy in the ring,” he said.
Mokhotho said boxers need to work on their speed, accuracy and defence skills to be able to be effective in the ring. “In training, it’s very important to set goals and work on techniques to become a better boxer.
Above all, boxers should have unbending determination in whatever they do,” he said. According to Mokhotho, the challenge that boxers face in the country is the lack of tournaments.
“This simply deprives boxers of enough exposure and experience.
The challenge we have when we face international opponents is that our boxers don’t have regular competitions, so lack of frequent game time kills our local boxers’ morale,” Mokhotho said.
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