For those who know Norris, you’d know that when he’s not the guy in the centre of the room cracking everyone around him up with laughter, he’s either training hard, training someone else harder, or putting his life at risk, to save others.
We caught up with the humble, CFL lightweight K1 champion, ahead of his potentially life changing operation.
Norris (34), fights out of REPS Gym, holding a K1 record of 8-1, and a pro MMA record of 1-0. A younger brother to a brother and an older brother to two sisters, working in the anti-terrorism unit which falls under SAPS, when asked to describe what exactly it entails, responded saying
“my job, in a nutshell entails urban, rural and amphibious assault/warfare, recon, close protection, medic jobs and support to other specialised units. I've also been a trainer in my unit for about 7 years along with being the close quarter combat instructor… which is where this relates to my sport.The only difference is that in the field there are no referees to stop the fights, often leading to potential situations that could result in serious bodily harm or even death, in our level of operating.” Norris is passionate about what he does and when asked about the pro’s and con’s, he said “I love my job but dislike taking commands from commanders that make bad tactical decisions which could result in us getting killed. This currently happens often so I plan to make changes soon.”
Norris discusses his injury and the procedure to be done on Monday which will keep him off the fight scene for a while… or will it? “I was in a major work incident in 2011 where majority of my ligaments in my right wrist were torn, amongst other breakages. This was not picked up by the doctor's, thus, I continued training and working with the injury, causing wear and tear on the little and brittle wrist bones. A specialist will now attempt to build up the bones and drill holes through them, take a ligament from my forearm, weave it through the holes and tie it up. This is more or less what was explained to me. Recovery time plus rehabilitation will be about 10 months, if there are no complications. According to the specialist, the procedure has an 80% success rate. I'm not entirely sure how long the procedure itself will take, but I might only be in hospital for the day of the operation, and be released the day after”. When asked if he would be out of action in terms of competing, Norris said that he was not sure if he would be competing again, but he will be unable to work in his field of expertise until he has passed operational tests.
This all sounds rather intense, but we know that Norris is a fighter, inside and outside the ring. We dug a little deeper, wanting to get to know the soft, kind hearted guy behind all the muscles and the shiny championship belt.
Norris went on to tell us that he loves bunnies, hamsters, piglets and dogs. (For such a big guy, those are all quite small animals, haha).
When asked about hobbies, or what he does when he’s
not training or at work, Norris replied with “basically just everything
revolving around making me fighting fit inside and outside the cage or ring”, with
this in mind, we were curious to know what he’d be doing in his recovery and
rehabilitation time. Norris said that he would make a plan to adapt to the
situation, “I'll still train kicks, knees, elbow and left hand strikes. I'll
still be able to train with resistance bands and machines, but no free weights
for a while, and cardio is simple, anything to keep the heart rate above 130bpm and under 150bpm for about an hour, as I usually do. I'll probably spar in
a month’s time, with my right hand out of the way of course” Let’s hope the
specialist doesn’t see this post then. “I'm no stranger to being a punching bag
for my team mates”, Norris jokes, “I just have to make a way to train or I will
become what I fear and that is "normal".”
Norris tells us about something interesting, that not
everyone knows about him: “I was directly shot at about 7 times but the shooter missed, I fell from a 25 foot
platform on cement and broke a lot of bones, but survived, I fell off the side
skids of a moving vehicle in pursuit of armed robbers, cracked my trachea but
survived and fought a crowd of hooligans armed with pungas, broken bottles and
2×4's with my tonga and only one man, Constable Christopher Ludick, as back up.”
Norris considers it God’s Grace that he survived the crowd fight without a
scratch and lived to tell it to us.
Norris is grateful to have been given the platform
to compete at CFL and has formed more than just acquainted bonds with Mr.
Kettle and Mr. Barrett , founders of CFL. Norris discusses his last fight (a
title defence) at CFL 07, “I was blessed with a unanimous decision victory,
against a very cool fighter from Mongkong fight club.
I think the decision was fair but I honestly felt slow and heavy due to my muscles gains for that fight. I adapted a new training method and a much stricter diet but it kind of worked against me I guess, I was just too big for my own good. The one thing I liked was that my foot work was better and my defence while striking was also better.
Overall, my technique improved but my work rate decreased. I'll always look to
improve and never feel complete.” Norris tells us about his fight name, but
starts at the beginning where he was first known in some circles as “Nemisis”…
“until Coach Gregor Weichman (Norris’ stand up coach) called me “Zambidis”. He
associated my fighting style with that of the legendary K1 world champion, Mike
Zambidis whom I'm very honoured to be compared to. Coach Gregor and Coach Rico
were always complimenting me on my punching power and the manner in which I throw
strikes. I guess that's why my wrist is all busted up”, Norris jokes.
We managed to make contact with Kettle, who was not aware that Norris would be out of action. When asked about Norris' title, Kettle responded "Changes will need to be made to the fight card for December (as the next CFL event will be taking place in December).
I will need to discuss it with Barrett and Hattingh and it will depend on his recovery time. We might need to get an interim lightweight K1 champ, until he recovers, then he will fight for the title.
I wish Norris everything of the best and a speedy recovery! I love watching him fight and we are definitely going to miss having him defend his title in December"
We also got in contact with Weichman and got him to share
his thoughts. “Norris and I hit it off from when he first set foot in Hattingh’s
gym. As the only K1 fighter, he obviously had my attention straight away. He
leads by example and always helps the younger guys prepare for fights, pushing
them to their peak”. When asked how he felt about Norris not being able to
compete, Weichman suggested we wait and see how the operation goes and take it
from there, but went on to say that Norris would most definitely have a career
in coaching at REPS, should he decide to recover. Weichman concludes, “Norris is
a real life hero and he has my utmost respect for finding the time to train
while under enormous pressure due to his work, which as you know, is extremely
dangerous and life threatening at times”.
Norris joked to Rico Hattingh (Head Coach at REPS gym) that the time has come
for him to coach now, we got in contact with Hattingh about his take on that.
Hattingh kept it short and sweet, but deep and honest, “Norris is an
amazing human being and it's a huge honour to have a man like him on our team.
We all love him. He has proved what he wanted to prove and he had a great career. There comes a time when one has to let go and Norris is emotional and spiritual enough to make that call.
I want Norris to be more involved with
coaching and even to open another reps gym perhaps. Norris, we’re all standing
firmly behind you and wish you all the best and may God bless you”. Norris also
mentioned that when he moved back to his place of birth (Namibia), that he
would like to open his own gym with his brother… who knows, maybe Namibia will
be seeing a REPS going up soon... Norris goes on to say that the biggest lesson
he’s learned was in a fight he’d lost, where he had learned that “if my faith
isn't on track fight night, then everything falls apart systematically”, but
also says “All of us have the fear of the unknown but it is what action you
take that will separate you from being a fighter or "flighter".”
We got in touch with 2 of Norris’ training partners, Antonio Fabing and
Wade Hammond who are also familiar names on the Cape Town fight scene, as well
as very good friends of Norris. First we heard what Fabing had to say: “We all love Norris for his
kind heartedness and willingness to help out with anything. He's a true brother
to us, inside and outside the gym. We respect him as a senior in the gym, as
well as a close friend.” When asked what it was like to train with Norris,
Fabing said “Norris hits like a truck!!
They don't call him "Zambidis" for nothing…
I think since I've met him and started
training with him, I've had no choice but to improve. He's level of skill is
unmatched here, hence the reason he is the CFL lightweight K1 champion. Norris
and Fabing were matched up at a Charity event in October, being unaware at the
time, that it would be Norris’ last performance, Fabing runs us through the
fight: “We rehearsed the fight the night before so we knew what we going to do.
We even made up hand signals for when we got tired or we wanted to apologize to
each other. The first two rounds we went hard, standing toe-to-toe, exchanging
in the centre of the ring. As soon as the bell rang for the third round, we ran
to the centre of the ring and just threw combinations. I was the first one to
get tired, but Zeeke managed to keep up that pace right through till the very
end. From what I can remember, the crowd was very pleased and fooled at the
same time.” Naughty naughty ;) LOL! “It's sad to hear he's retired now, he's such
an exciting fighter to watch.
I know he has a lot more in him to display in the ring, it's just an unfortunate reality and we've just got to see how he recovers…
Hopefully I can change his mind ;)” Fabing jokes. “I'd like to wish
him a speedy recovery and I pray that the operation is successful. What more
can I say, Norris is a very humble and positive person to have around. It's going
to take some time to get used to his absence. He always makes it worthwhile
coming to gym, but this is not the end of the road for Norris… He'll be opening
his own gym in the near future and I trust that it will be a great success.”
Fabing concludes.
Just like
Fabing, Hammond only had positive things to say: “Having Zeeke in the gym is certainly
a blessing, not only because of the help he is able to offer in the sport on a
high level striking basis, but also just as a team mate and friend. He is always
full of laughs and smiles before and after training, but once it’s time to
work, he is all business and ensures that others also don’t lose focus”. Hammonds
discusses Norris out of action: “Well of course this eliminates one of my
favourite and best sparring partners and pad holders, Norris always gives me
tips on how to improve my boxing, and is always able to boost my confidence by
complimenting me during training and often toughening me up by kicking my ass
around the gym!” Hammond
talks about his scheduled fight against Norris: “We were meant to fight THREE
times before, if I’m not mistaken. The first time was at CFL 2, where Norris
had gotten sick. The other 2 times, were both for his CFL K1 lightweight title.
The first time we had been told by the event organiser that the fight was on
and I had been really training my butt off. Shortly before the fight it was
called off again. The third time they had told Zeeke that he would face me for
his Title. I had seen pictures of Zeeke in incredible shape and was curious as
to who he would face, since I had NO idea they had matched us up. At the time I
was not training at all and was taking a break from the sport completely,
thinking I would never return to the ring… Eventually that fight also didn’t
happen since I was nowhere near ready or aware of it, haha!”. Hammond
concludes, “ Before ending off, I would just like to wish Norris the
best of luck with the operation, but I am certain he will be just fine.
Norris is a true warrior and it will take a HUGE amount to set him back. Just looking forward to him having a speedy recovery and getting back to work with him in the gym.
God bless you brother. Oh...last thing, LEKKER ZEEKE!!”
We asked Norris if he had any final words, he concluded: "I would like thank you, firstly, for allowing me to share my story with you and your readers, readers Miss Adams. I would also like to thank my family, coaches, team mates, colleagues, friends and opponents as well as our two well known founders of CFL, Mr Kettle and Mr Barrett. It has been my honour entertaining everyone and I hope that we all add to growing this sport in the best possible way. Also, a special thanks to my girlfriend, Tania Cunningham, who has believed in me the most and has played the second biggest role, alongside my mother. I truly love you all and wish you GOD'S Blessings."
The Team at BoxingBarbie would like to thank Zeeke Norris for this interview. We would also like to thank his coaches, Rico Hattingh and Gregor Weichman, Co Founder of CFL, Anthony Kettle, as well as his team mates, Antonio Fabing and Wade Hammond for their in depth reviews :) Zeeke, we wish you everything of the best for tomorrow, may The Almighty guide the hand of the surgeon and may you have a speedy, and sufficient recovery!
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