Jewish boxers take opponents down in Booysens

It was a great night for Jewish boxing on 23 November, when 20-year-olds Joshua Feldman and Doron Zinman both won their much-anticipated fights at the Box Camp in Booysens, Johannesburg.

Feldman quickly beat 32-year-old Brian Shakoane by knocking him out in the first round, while Zinman won against his fellow 20-year-old professional boxing debutant, Masibulele “The Hurricane” Mjoli, by scoring a knockdown to win by unanimous decision.

Junior-middleweight Feldman, nicknamed “The Maccabee”, says, “I felt great. I had an amazing camp, and I felt ready to go in the changing room. I’m happy with my performance. I felt a lot more relaxed and calm in the ring. I’m excited to get back and do it again.”

Featherweight Zinman, nicknamed “Buzzsaw”, says his fight went well, but he thinks he could have done better. “It wasn’t that I wasn’t confident or anything, the fight was just very different. I tensed up a little bit too much. That’s what caused me to use up a lot more energy than I should have. I could have been more composed and picked my shots a lot better. But it was a really great fight against a solid opponent. I’m happy that I won.”

Zinman, who fought wearing shorts sporting a Magen David, had an inkling that he had won before the result was announced. “But only once they announced the winner did the feeling become real. It’s surreal because now I’m a professional fighter, and I’m living my dream, so I’m really happy about that.”

Feldman and Zinman are taking a small break, hiking in the Drakensberg. Both expect their next fights to be early next year. “I’m going to be watching my boxing fight over and over again so that I can pinpoint all the mistakes and see what I need to work on,” Zinman says.

According to The Jewish Boxing Blog, the southpaw Feldman made Shakoane backpedal to the ropes, and he delivered several clean blows before the referee intervened a minute and 23 seconds into the opening round.

After winning what was his fifth win from as many professional boxing fights, Feldman confidently declared, “Whoever they put in front of me, I’ll take out.”

Zinman recorded wins against the taller Mjoli in all three rounds on the judges’ scores.

He displayed “an exciting attacking style as he lived up to his ‘Buzzsaw’ moniker to score an entertaining four-round points win,” noted TimesLive.

After the fight, Zinman enthused, “This is the beginning of the rest of my life. I’m so grateful.”

Colin Nathan, the head trainer of Zinman and Feldman, also celebrated a technical knockout win by another of his fighters, Ishmaeel Kadri.