Elton Jantjies in action during a training session FILE - Elton Jantjies will go up against former Springboks and Lions teammate Lionel Mapoe in a charity fight in Durban next month. Photo: Phando Jikelo/Independent Newspapers
Springboks Elton Jantjies and Lionel Mapoe will step into the ring in an MMA and boxing charity event happening in Durban towards the end of November.
Jantjies, with 46 Test Caps to his name, posted he would be going up against his former Lions and Springboks teammate Mapoe on his Instagram page on Tuesday after having promised “an announcement was coming” for weeks.
The fight is scheduled to take place on November 30.
“Getting into the ring was always one of my passionate dreams,” the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok said in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“The sport of boxing is one of my tools to stay sharp on the rugby field and endure a proper high intensity game.”
The controversial 34-year-old Jantjies has not played rugby since he was handed a four-year suspension earlier this year after failing a drugs test prior to last year’s World Cup in France.
The flyhalf has always maintained his innocence, and insisted he would be back on the field sooner than expected.
Jantjies was also infamously dropped from the Springbok squad in 2022 over reports of an alleged extramarital affair with team dietician Zeenat Simjee. And before that, he made headlines after being arrested at OR Tambo International in Johannesburg for bad behaviour on an Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai.
Mapoe, who played alongside Jantjies at the Lions, is currently contracted to the Bulls, and featured in their recent Currie Cup campaign.
The 36-year-old outside centre played the last of his 14 Tests for the Springboks in 2018.
IOL Sport
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