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Ellina Mhlanga

Senior Sports Reporter

THE Zimunya family are mourning the golden boy they lost.

Taurai Zimunya, the bantamweight boxer, died Monday after injuries sustained in a boxing ring.

He was only 23.

“I am in pain because of his death,’’ his mother Nyevero told The Herald. “I was looking up to him. He was my eldest son and I was looking up to him assisting the family.

“He was a well behaved child, he was very understanding and if I told him that I had a problem, he would rush over to help.

“He was more of a father figure in the family.

“I am in pain, my son died doing what he loved, this was his job.”

Her last conversation with his son was on Sunday morning before the fight.

“He had his own place in Nehanda, that’s where he stayed, and I was not around when this happened,’’ she said.

“I was at Mukumbura Border, so I last spoke to him around 10am on Sunday, and he was reminding me about his fight.

“That was the last time I spoke to him, only to receive a phone call from my daughter-in-law, saying he was at Parirenyatwa.

“My daughter-in-law was the one who was with him at the match, she saw what happened and she was with him at the hospital.

“He had been training all along, even during this Covid, he was training and he was okay.

“But, recently, he was not feeling well, I think, this whole week.’’

She even tried to persuade him not to fight on Sunday.

“I actually spoke to him and asked if he could skip this fight but he said he was 100 percent fit and said he could fight,’’ said Nyevero.

“It had been long since his last fight and he was eager to fulfil the match as he had planned with the coach and his sponsor.

“He was 23, his wife is still young, and they were just starting their life. They had no children. All he wanted was to do well in life.

“Tau was into boxing and recently he got a job at Econet, I think it is now two months.

“His father is in Marondera, so he was more of a father to this family.”

Zimunya was the second child in a family of four — two boys and two girls.

His sister Betty said it’s difficult to accept the death of their brother.

“Tau was just kind-hearted. We all looked up to him. When I had problems I would go to him, our father is not always around because of church commitments, and he is usually in Marondera.

“He was the person we would go to.

“He chose boxing to make a living, it was his choice but the Lord has taken him although he had not realised all his dreams.

“What happened is difficult to accept. He was our pillar of strength, he was our guardian together with his wife, although they were still young.’’

Taurai’s friend and training partner, Simbiso Simon, who is still an amateur, said what happened was scary.

“I understand he is the first person to die, in this country, from a professional fight. How does that happen?

“Even parents they get concerned and it’s difficult,” said Simon.

Zimunya is survived by his wife Tawonga.

Mourners are gathered at number 6611 Dzivarasekwa Extension Phase Two.

Burial arrangements were still to be finalised.

Zimunya’s death is the first in Zimbabwe where a boxer had died from injuries sustained in a professional bout.

In 1995 it was estimated that about 500 boxers had died in the ring or as a result of boxing since 1884.

The worst year was 1953 when 22 boxers died. The majority of deaths are of American boxers. The last American to die was 27 year-old Patrick Day on October 12, 2019.