The Hammer’s Gym – from Boksburg to our town
The Hammer’s legacy is carried forward by Middelburg Boxing Academy.
Former South African welterweight boxing champion Harold Volbrecht began his national service with the 4 South African Infantry Battalion in Middelburg in 1976. He started boxing professionally the previous year.
Now, 49 years later, Volbrecht, or ‘The Hammer’, as the southpaw was known, has contributed to the town’s boxing future.
Volbrecht has closed his boxing gym in Boksburg, The Hammer’s Gym, and Steven Pieterse, who assists amateur and professional boxers, bought the boxing ring and also received 10 punching bags, weights and jump ropes.
The boxing ring was transported to Middelburg on a lowbed and set up here.
The Middelburg Boxing Academy now boasts a well-equipped boxing gym with an amateur tournament held there on Saturday.
A total of 26 boxers are already training at the club.
One of them, a young boxer, is an orphan who has had nine fights, of which he won eight. He will later compete in the South African championships.
Last Saturday, 26 fights were held, and Nkululeko Mkhonza from Doornkop won the main bout on points.
