Strong personal connections are the bedrocks for boxing trainer and manager Colin Nathan's success, seeing him mentor two fighters to major titles in the past six months.
IBF and WBA junior flyweight champion Hekkie Budler and IBF flyweight titleholder Moruti Mthalane moved up the highly regarded Ring Magazine rankings this year. Budler is also the first South African since Vic Toweel to hold a Ring belt in 68 years.
Budler, who tops the ESPN rankings in his division, credits Nathan, who he sees as a "father or brother" for his success, telling KweséESPN: "We have an understanding and we connect well.
"His hard work and insight guarantees success. He's one of the best trainers in the world. He spends a lot of time in the gym and makes time for each fighter when he has a fight coming up."
Nathan looks at Budler's and Mthalane's belts as his crowning achievements to date, telling KweséESPN: "My greatest work as a boxing manager is Moruti Mthalane and my greatest work as a boxing trainer is Hekkie Budler."
Nathan's obsession with boxing started at three years old, in Cape Town, where the sport was a major part of his life as his father Stan trained fighters.
"I was always fascinated by the sport," Nathan says. "My late father bought me a pair of boxing gloves and I was always running around the apartment with them on, always wanting to punch things."
The trainer, nicknamed "Nomakanjani" ('No matter what' in Zulu), fondly remembers watching big fights with his dad: "I always used to hear my father screaming at the television set when [former heavyweight champion] Gerrie Coetzee was fighting.
"When I was taken to a boxing gym for the first time at the age of seven I never looked back. It has been constant love affair for 33 years."
Boxing promotion is often a game of charisma and media savvy, and Nathan has that in spades. Even in his early career as a TV presenter with SABC, boxing found its way into his daily job, sometimes to the chagrin of his bosses.
"When I was a television presenter all I did was talk about boxing. In fact, my TV head at the time would always criticize me for always talking about boxing and would tell me to talk about other things," he recalls.
Nathan, a national Judo champion in his youth, has no regrets about the work he did on television though, adding: "My TV career has helped to prepare me for my next career.
"It helped with press conferences, being interviewed and learning how to deal with the media to a certain degree. It gave me that confidence to be on that stage and platform with my fighter, bearing in mind that some fighters aren't comfortable speaking in public."
He opened Hotbox Gym in Johannesburg while he was still a presenter, in 2000. He didn't enjoy the weekend presenter jobs so he opted to focus on his gym and soon left the TV industry behind.
Over the years, there have been a number of exciting fighters who have trained at Hotbox. His first South African champion was Amon Baloyi, and he also trained Zolani Marali, who would later become the WBC junior lightweight champion.
"From there everything just started turning and turning. I've got to give Rodney Berman and Golden Gloves Promotions credit for that because they really invested a lot of time and energy into me. They gave my fighters opportunities," says the champion trainer.
"Isaac was probably one of the most gifted fighters I've ever seen in the gym," Nathan says of the fighter who lost to Dmitry Bivol in early August.
"He's really good. I'm not surprised that he went on to become world class and have these big fights [as challenger]. He's done really well, but he's come short in big fights."
Between 2007 and 2008 a new crop of fighters joined Nathan's gym, including Owethu 'Octavius' Mbira, whom Nathan talks about fondly. Ill-discipline caught up with the fighter, though, and he retired from the sport in 2011 after just five fights, all of which he won.
"Mbira is one kid that breaks my heart because I feel that he could have been a world champion. One of those guys who had a brilliant amateur pedigree -- Bronze medallist at the All Africa Games, went to the world champs in 2007.
"Just wasted talent. He was one kid, same as Hekkie, he could have gone all the way."
Boxing is filled with many stories of talented fighters who never reached their potential due to a variety of factors, and Nathan has seen his fair share of such boxers under his care.
He explains: "I've dealt with plenty of young fighters who technically had all the ability but lacked the chin or lacked the heart, or had a good chin and heart but lacked ability. Very rarely do you find the full package.
"It's very difficult for these youngsters, who are 19 or 20 and want to go out partying and drinking. They don't understand that they have got to stay in the gym."
With all the talent that he has worked with, Nathan acknowledges that 2018 has been his best year. In May he travelled to Japan with Budler to pull off the ultimate upset by beating Ryoichi Taguchi to become the junior flyweight lineal champion.
Then in July he saw Mthalane win the IBF flyweight title in Malaysia, but Nathan says: "I can't take credit for training Moruti. I trained him for the fight, don't get me wrong. But he was made by the late Nick Durandt.
"What I will take credit for is that Moruti Mthalane is probably my best work as a manager. I was advised by a few people that I was wasting my time with Moruti.
"But we had a plan and the next thing I knew was he was winning. People thought I was on drugs [for sticking with him]. Next thing you know, we're fighting for a world title on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao.
"That's just crazy if you think about it. Here is a guy who was inactive for more than a year. Everybody thought his career was over and now he's a number one fighter in the world."
It's that work behind the scenes as manager that Nathan is looking to focus on. He recently started a new company called No Doubt Management, where he represents not only Hotbox fighters but others as well.
He has struck a deal to assist with one of South Africa's biggest prospects -- Azinga Fuzile, the IBF Africa junior lightweight champion.
"He's one kid that I really rate. I think he's really talented. We have a 12 to 18-month plan for Azinga. Then, provided he keeps winning, he'll be fighting for the world title," says Nathan.
The management company has been set up to help fighters receive opportunities they might be passed over for otherwise: "For example, you have a fighter like Xolisani Ndongeni, who is 25-0 but he's not rated by the top sanctioning bodies. That is crazy.
"He has the WBF title and he's fighting, but surely he wants bigger opportunities? I'm not mocking the WBF. I think they provide a great platform, but surely he wants to test himself against other world champions?"
These long-term goals, and his attention towards his fighters, are why Nathan is revered by boxers. They believe their success with him is due to the understanding they have built.
Former South African welterweight champion Shaun Ness has said that he would "never train anywhere else" but at Nathan's Hotbox Gym.
Former light heavyweight contender Ryno Liebenberg adds of his relationship with Nathan: "We understand each other and that's one of the most important things in boxing. The relationship between you and your coach, you need to be on the same level otherwise you won't get anywhere."
But the last word goes to 'The Hexecutioner' Budler, Nathan's pride and joy, who says: "I trust him with my life.
"Whenever I'm asked who I'm fighting next I always say I'll fight whoever Colin decides on because he always puts the fighter first."
http://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/24512942/boxing-trainer-colin-nathan-fights-boxers
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