LOVEMORE N'DOU

updated June 17, 2007

Says Lovemore, "I started boxing at the age of 16. I have always being into sports as a kid growing up in South Africa. I was very good at soccer, which is a very common sport among blacks in South Africa. Even today, black kids can still be seen in every corner of the streets in townships playing soccer with no proper soccer balls. They're often made out of shoving newspapers into plastic carry-bags. Growing up in a country torn asunder by hate and racial conflict, sport was the only way for us blacks to be treated with respect and the only way we can make our ways out of the black townships with no future.

"I was a very temperamental young man. So everytime a rival played dirty with me, I would lose my cool and kick them in the face or flatten them with a punch. That always left me suspended from playing for periods up to three months. But because I was one of the top players in the small town of Messina where I grew up, they would always have me back in the field before my suspension was up. Then I would deck someone again and it was back to square one.

"Once I decked this guy and knocked him out cold, and the local security was called in to discipline me. The security dude, Divas Chirwa, who later became my best amateur trainer and friend, happened to be a boxing trainer in the local copper mine. Instead of punishing me, he asked me to come try boxing in his gym the next day. The next day I went to the gym, cocky as usual, and there was about 30 new recruits like me. Divas had his own way of recruiting potential fighters. He would train you on the first day like you never been trained before. Hard training that would leave a grown man crying or quitting within the first 15 minutes. He trained us for about two hours, and by the end of the training session there was only about seven of us left. The next day when I went back to the gym, I was the only one who showed up. My body was aching like hell. Divas was impressed, and he then started training me properly and teaching me the basics. And that was the beginning of my boxing career. Then I went on to represent my school, the local copper mine and army where my father worked as a mechanic."...

I had 68 amateur fights (66-2)...and was a four-time South African champion in four consecutive years... "I could not compete internationally since South Africa then was banned from international competition due to its practice of Apartheid. As a result, South African amateur fighters could not compete in the Olympics."...

Professional:

-IBF Pan Pacific Champ since 2002 and successfully defended this title 10 times and recently vacated it after winning the World Title.

-Went the distance with Sharmba Mitchell, Miguel Cotto and Junior Witter where both fights were taken on less than a week's notice.

-Awarded the IBF title after Ricky Hatton chose not to make his mandatory defence against me but fight Jose Luis Castillo instead.

Goals and Ambitions:

-To successfully defend my title as many times as possible and unify the 140 pound division.

-To fight rematches against Cotto and Witter....and beat them up.

-To meet my lifetime hero, Nelson Mandela.

Hobbies:

-I enjoy spending time with my wife and kids and going to the movies.

-Reading: Mostly True Crime Stories, such as The Ice Man, Killer Excuses, The Last Mafioso, Criminal Masterminds, The Accidental Gangster, etc. Biographies about the likes of Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Churchill, etc. Favourite Author is John Grisham- I read all his books.

Training for upcoming fights:

-I put in at least 6 hours of training everyday 6 days a week.

-This involves sparring, bagwork, skipping, mitts, etc in the morning at a boxing gym. Then off to a fitness gym in the afternoon which involves weight training and cardio. Then a 10km or 12km run every night.

-Twice a week before my morning gym sessions I do sprints around a football field. Sometimes up to 8 doubles.

-In between those training sessions every hour from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep I do 100 push-ups each hour. It doesn't matter what I am doing, whether driving, or in class at uni, or eating or even making love, when the hour is up I will stop whatever I'm doing and do my push-ups first. I do this up to three weeks to a fight.

-Most importantly I always watch what I eat. I'm teetotal but love candy.