It will be a battle between mentor and protégé when Simpiwe Vetyeka defends his South Africa bantamweight title against Wendy MacKenzie at Orient Theatre in East London on Friday.
As a young fighter, Vetyeka was mentored by MacKenzie when he was still fighting inside makeshift boxing rings made from school desks during fights between Duncan Village amateur boxing clubs in East London.
While MacKenzie concentrated on his studies, Vetyeka surpassed him and went on to win the South African title from Khulile Makeba in February.
When MacKenzie resumed his boxing career after his studies at University of Western Cape, Vetyeka was already a respected champion despite being only 22 years.
The fighters are also neighbours, which makes their clash more intriguing.
"I know Vetyeka like the palm of my hand," said MacKenzie.
"I mentored him when he was a youngster. I used to shout at him to throw an upper cut but now he thinks he can throw that upper cut to me. He is crazy," said the 28-year old challenger.
However since Vetyeka became a champion, the mentor-protégé relationship between the two has deteriorated. This was evident when both fighters posed for photo sessions during the pre-medical for the fight at Mdantsane Sun on Monday.
Vetyeka insisted that his photograph be taken while holding the Old Buck belt. But MacKenzie argued that the belt was up for grabs and therefore he had a right to hold it as well.
"This title is the same as being vacant because we will be fighting for it," he said.
MacKenzie has lost only one bout of his eight fights ironically to Vetyeka's stablemate Simpiwe Nongqayi. - Sapa