SOUTH AFRICA’S STAR BOXER DILA VUYOLWETHU SPARKLED IN 2024
What a successful season it was for South Africa’s star boxer Dila Vuyolwethu aka Skolo.
Dila won medals in all tournaments she participated in the 2024 boxing season, putting the icing on the cake with her first ever medal in the AFBC African Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships held in DR Congo’s capital city, Kinshasa.
There’s no doubt the charming and affable Dila has come of age ever since she made her international debut in the AFBC Youth Men’s and Women’s Championships in Casablanca, Morocco in 2018 winning a bronze medal in the flyweight division. Dila lost 5-0 in the semi-finals to Algeria’s Yasmine Khither.
“I was still new in the international stage, some sceptics expected me to fold back but I was confident, I just lacked experience,” Dila told boxersworld.co.ke on her impressive show in Morocco.
“I was so excited winning a medal in my debut for my country.”
After the Africa Youth Championships in Morocco, Dila then 18 years old, maintained her consistency, winning flyweight gold in the Mandela Centenary youth tournament featuring Swaziland and Lesotho in Eastern Cape. Her brilliant performance also earned her the best boxer award in the female category.
Dila’s ascendancy in 2018 continued unabated, winning her second gold medal in Region Five Games in Botswana.
She graduated to the national senior team in 2019 but a shoulder injury temporarily scuttled her relentless march to the top.
Dila’s morale was further dampened in 2020 following the death of her beloved grandmother Ann Rose Dila.
“The death of my grand mum killed me emotionally” said Dila but through her unwavering determination and resilience she bounced back with a bang in 2021 during which won the national title and was unbeaten in the national team selections emerging as the top light-flyweight.
Dila’s march to glory was now unstoppable. At the inaugural International University World Cup Combat Games in Turkey she bagged a bronze medal and a silver in the Zone 4 Championships in Maputo.
Two unsuccessful attempts in the AFBC African Men’s and Women’s Championships in 2022 and 2023 toughened Dila’s resolve to do better, culminating in her first medal – a bronze – in the premier Africa boxing event held in Kinshasa, DR Congo in 2024.
“I can say that’s my most memorable achievement because I didn’t win any medal in the Africa Championships in 2022 and 2023. Standing in the podium in Kinshasa meant a lot to me.”
Dila was defeated 4-1 points in the minimum weight semi-finals by Morocco’s debutant El Harouad Hafsa but she was not convinced.
I was with Dila in Kinshasa and spoke to her after the draws on her views about the Moroccan boxer Hafsa who was making her international debut.
“I don’t know the opponent and she doesn’t know me so we’re going to be meeting for the first time I’m looking forward to this fight,” said Dila, and remained calm despite the fact that she was more experienced than the Moroccan rookie.
“That is an advantage I’m more experienced but again I can’t underrate my opponent this is boxing anything can happen.”
During the fight, Dila was more dominant than the hit-and-run Moroccan. I spoke to her after the defeat.
“Nothing went wrong on my side, I did as I was told I controlled the pace of the fight while fighting on the front foot,” said Dila.
She went on: “Well I thought I had done enough to win the fight having my opponent getting a mandatory standing count, man I thought I did everything.
The opponent did not do anything she kept running away from me and playing dirty, pressing me down and holding but I was the one cautioned by the referee, it’s really unfair but it’s okay.”
Kinshasa was the first time a major tournament in Africa was taking place without headguards. Dila was very much okay fighting minus the headgears.
“I think the decision of headguards being taken out was the best on my part, we fight freely now and there’s no much difference,” she said.
“Generally I’m very happy with my performance in 2024, it was the best year for me,” said Dila whose boxing idol is Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez.
“I won my first medal in the Africa Championships and my third gold medal in the South Africa University Games at Orient Theatre in Eastern Cape.”
In addition to winning gold and bronze, Dila also scooped silver in the inaugural Mandela African Boxing Cup tournament in Durban, South Africa. Her fight minimum weight final fight against DR Congo’s Benedicte Diyoka was stopped in the first round following a recurrence of a shoulder injury she sustained in the semi-finals against Namibia’s Ndapandula Ngesheya.
When did Dila get involved with boxing?
“I started boxing in 2009 at home. I’m from a fighting background, my father was a boxer and my uncle too so it’s the only thing we knew and grew up to love the game. The person who taught me how to fold a fist was my uncle Vakele Dila in our backroom.”
Besides boxing, Dila is also busy chopping at the University of Fort Hare in Eastern Cape.This year I’m doing my fourth and final year, I want to specialise in Forensic Sciences as a Toxicologist,” said Diia who hails for the Eastern Cape, the home of boxing in South Africa.
I ask Dila about her nickname Skolo and what it means.
With a wide smile, she responds:”My fans nicknamed me Skolo, it’s a Xosa word for school, they say I always take my opponents to school because I’m smart upstairs when in the ring.”
As she looks forward to the new season, Dila is confident she will be retained in the national team but if things don’t work in her favour, she has a plan B.
“If by any chance I don’t make the team, I will turn professional, the world is ready to witness my greatness,” said the diminutive Dila with a deserved sense of pride.
