The national boxing fraternity breathed a collective sigh of relief after Boxing SA finally changed the rule barring boxers from contesting for titles if they come from a loss.
Boxing SA COO Mandla Ntlanganiso revealed that the rule had been amended, freeing scores of deserving boxers and unleashing more title bouts.
“The amended sanctioning and championship policy (now) allows boxers coming from a loss to fight for titles,” he said.
The amendment has freed Gqeberha boxer Aphiwe Magobiyane to contest for the provincial lightweight title against Hlumelo Gingxana at Thobi Kula Indoor Centre in Komani on Saturday.
Magobiyane’s approval was up in the air, as he is coming from a loss when he was knocked out by Lonwabo “Don’t Blink” Sizani at East London’s Guild Theatre in November.
Despite eventually being stopped by a body blow, Magobiyane gave the unbeaten knockout specialist fits, wobbling him in the first round.
Magobiyane and Gingxana will contest the vacant title stripped from Mthatha’s Siseko Makeleni after twice pulling out from scheduled title defences against Gingxana.
Makeleni first withdrew from the Gingxana fight in March 2024, forcing the East London boxer to seek a replacement and settling for Maqhawe Damoyi for the interim title while waiting for BSA to make a decision on Makeleni’s shenanigans.
However, the sanctioning committee refused to approve Damoyi on the basis that he was coming off a loss when he dropped a points decision against Makeleni in a previous bout.
On realising that the title would not be at stake, Gingxana withdrew from the fight at the weigh-in, plunging the tournament into crisis as it breached the government funding conditions for all the shows to have a provincial title at stake.
While Ntlanganiso could not say if the Makeleni fiasco influenced the amendment of the sanctioning and championship policy, he admitted that the previous rule hindered championship activity.
“The previous rule was stagnating championship (activity); our policies must enable activity,” he said.
Award-winning matchmaker Luyanda Kana, who has often criticised the previous rule as it caught him in the crossfire when matchmaking for provincial title fights, hailed the amendment, emphasising that it would unleash a wave of top championship fights in SA boxing.
“This is good news for boxing because I do not think there was anyone supporting that rule,” he said.
“There are so many boxers deserving to contest a title but unable to because of losing their previous bouts.
“The rule did not take into consideration how the loss occurred, such as an injury-induced defeat and other factors.
“It just applied a blanket barring, and that was a stumbling block on the provision of good bouts.”
While other boxers opted to go ahead with their scheduled fights without a title, other continental sanctioning bodies exploited the gap to put their belts at stake and extracted healthy sanctioning fees from the bouts.
Pepsin Promotions, which will stage the Magobiyane-Gingxana clash, also applauded the decision to approve the battle for the provincial title.
Daily Dispatch
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