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

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 5 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 (now KuGompo City) 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.

Some of 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, 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.