Gym-mates Nontshinga, Thompson, must learn lessons from losses

Sivenathi “The Special One” Nontshinga and Chris “The Wolf” Thompson must embrace the defeats they suffered in their crucial fights last weekend as lessons learnt.

Nontshinga was stopped in round five by Regie Suganob in their official IBF junior flyweight elimination fight in the Philippines, shattering his aspirations of challenging for a world title he has won twice previously.

Instead Suganob, who Nontshinga defeated in East London in 2023. put himself in line to challenge for the title, which is held by Thanongsak Simsri from Thailand.

Thompson was defeated by Russian Georgy Yunovidov via a seventh-round stoppage to claim the IBA.PRO Intercontinental heavyweight title in Vologda, Russia.

Nontshinga and Thompson share the same HotBox Gym of trainer-cum-manager Colin Nathan, but Thompson is trained by Shannon Strydom.

Thompson defeated his Russian foe in Manila in October by a unanimous decision.

The greatest fighters in history—including Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Canelo Alvarez—all suffered massive defeats and used them to evolve into better technical fighters.

Nontshinga and Thompson must acknowledge the pain, anger, and disappointment without suppression and step away from the gym for a few days to let both body and mind heal.

They must surround themselves with a trusted support system of coaches, family, and teammates who value them beyond their fight records.

They need to deconstruct their performances, review the tapes of their fights objectively with their head coach once emotions have settled.

The two fighters must identify tactical gaps and pinpoint exactly what went wrong, whether it was a conditioning issue, a defensive lapse, or a strategic miscalculation.

Nontshinga, 27, suffered his third loss via knockout against 14 wins with 11 KOs while 31-year-old Thompson has now been stopped four times in seven defeats against 16 victories with nine knockouts.