South Africa’s Simangele Hadebe (left) on the offensive against Mexico’s Gabriela Sanchez in their WBC silver flyweight title fight in Mexico on April 4, 2025._Hadebe back home from Mexico where she lost to WBC silver flyweight champion Gabriela Sanchez
South Africa’s top femle pro boxer Simangele “Smash” Hadebe has blasted Mexico’s Gabriela “Bonita” Sanchez for employing dirty tricks in their WBC silver flyweight title fight in Mexico on April 4, 2025.
Sanchez retained her WBC silver flyweight title with a points victory over Hadebe who returned to South Africa today, April 8, from Mexico. The Mexican judges scored it 100-89, 99-90, 99-90.
Hadebe was in charge of the fight in the first two rounds, breaking Sanchez’ nose with a hard left jab in the first round.
The tide of the fight changed from the third round with Sanchez dominating the exchanges and opting to fight from the outside using her long jab but Hadebe always got closer though she found it hard to land clean shots.
“Getting hit behind the head a lot did contribute to losing the game plan,” Hadebe told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview.
She went on: “At one stage the blows behind the head made me dizzy, and had to reset my plan to avoid to fight on the inside.
“Finding my range was another thing as she is an awkward fighter also. Maybe if I kept her on the outside, find my range and land proper punches, the fight would have turned out differently.”
Sanchez avoided close close quarter exchanges with Hadebe from the third round with blood oozing from her nose. 
“I knew after I broke her nose in the first round, she’s going to run away from me, and I had to attack all the time,” said Hadebe, adding: “But attacking was already in our game plan so I had to get closer. That I did but so many pushes at the back of my head took me right out.
“She came in tough and prepared as we expected, definitely I wasn’t expecting the dirtiness of the fight. It was a good experience for me even with the loss. I loved how they support female boxing here. I didn’t expect so many spectators.”
Hadebe’s manager Colleen McAusland praised Hadebe for avoiding to fight dirty when the Mexican began adopting an unorthodox approach to the game.
“We knew what we were up against and that we’re going into the lions den, Smash gave it her all. The first two rounds the game plan worked, she broke Sanchez’ nose in the first round,” said McAusland.
“Sanchez corner knew she was in trouble and the dirty tricks came out but Smash is not a dirty fighter, she allowed Sanchez to bully her onto the ropes, unfortunately the back of the head blows, pushing and elbowing did the damage and the game plan couldn’t be executed.”
McAusland said despite the defeat, Hadebe can walk tall for going the full 10 rounds with Sanchez at home. She thanked the Mexicans for their warm welcome.
“Experience is priceless, thank you to the Mexicans for their hospitality, we were treated well and taken good care of. We didn’t win the fight but Simangele “Smash” Hadebe won the hearts of the people, it was a great experience to fight in the Mecca of boxing in the world. Thank you Puebla, Mexico. You’ve left a mark in our hearts, the passion of Mexicans for female boxing was amazing to see. Thank you for all the love and support. 
“Unfortunately Smash doesn’t fight as often as she needs to, let’s hope this will change for female champions going forward. I hope the attention received about the condition of female boxing in South Africa has been noticed and our experiences will help things change for women in boxing going forward. We had to look for opportunities out of South Africa knowing we are at a disadvantage with not fighting often enough, it’s the risk we’re forced to take.”
Hadebe’s award-winning coach Jack Khangelani echoed McAusland’s sentiments regarding their boxer’s inactivity at home fighting in very few fights .
“We need our own promoters in South Africa to bring international girls for Smash to fight more often, like from Thailand, Australia, Argentina, to name a few countries that have flyweight females,” said the coach.
“We are hoping things will be better for female boxers they need more game time. We did learn a lot from this loss, and it will take us to the next step, I have learnt a lot as a trainer of Smash especially going international, you dont get experience by doing nothing but you get it by working everyday and be able to learn, make mistakes and fix them.
“Smash fought very well besides the fact that we lost the fight, we had a good plan which you could see in the first two rounds but we allowed the opponent to take us out of our plan with her dirty game, punching behind the head, pushing with the shoulders, elbow blows.
“Smash is a good boxer, and I believe she will make it to the world stage again, but she needs more fights. She is the National Champion with no defence since winning in 2002. South Africa number one should be challenging Smash, how will those ranked 1,2,3 improve if they’re running away from challenging Smash for the national title of which there are many flyweights to fight her. Even Smash had to fight the champions as she developed as a boxer.”
Khangelani thanked DiscoverSport.com for making it possible for the fight to be watched live by South Africans and the rest of the world.
It’s been a first for a female boxer in South Africa to get such huge TV coverage for a fight, thanks to DiscoverSport.com for making it possible, RGM Cranes for their loyal monthly sponsorship that takes care of Smash’s every need.
