Chilemba to undergo two operations

South Africa-based Malawian boxing icon Isaac ‘Golden Boy’ Chilemba could be reduced to a sideshow for quite a while as he is scheduled to undergo two operations within seven days.

The former IBO super-middleweight and WBC International light-heavyweight champion said in an interview from South Africa yesterday that he will first have a hip surgery on Monday in Johannesburg before going under the knife again seven days later in the United States on his right elbow.

“I have had a hip problem for about four years now. At first it was tingling then I started feeling numb. After sometime, I completely lost the feeling on my thigh for about a year, now it’s burning all the time and sometimes I can’t stand on my leg.

“While training, I have to stop sometimes because of the pain, I experienced that in the recent North America Boxing Federation light heavyweight title fight against Aleksandr Gvozdyk, but I just had to endure the pain because I didn’t want anyone to know what I was going through.

“As for my right elbow, I messed up in the second round during the fight [against Gvozdyk], from then on I had only the left side to use up until the pain of tennis elbow became worse, that is why I had no choice but to stop the fight,” he said.

However, the 29-year-old boxer said he will only have an idea as to how long he will be out of the ring after the operations.

“But after the second operation, I will remain in the States for rehabilitation,” said Chilemba.

According to mayoclinic.org, meralgia paresthetica “is a condition characterized by tingling, numbness and burning pain in your outer thigh. The cause of meralgia paresthetica is compression of the nerve that supplies sensation to the skin surface of your thigh.

“Tight clothing, obesity or weight gain, and pregnancy are common causes of meralgia paresthetica. However, meralgia paresthetica can also be due to local trauma or a disease, such as diabetes.”

And according to www.webmd.com, tennis elbow  is “a type of tendinitis—swelling of the tendons—that causes pain in the elbow and arm. These tendons are bands of tough tissue that connect the muscles of your lower arm to the bone.

Chilemba was forced to retire after the eighth of their 10- round fight against Gvozdyk with a right elbow injury.