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An unspecified medical condition has led to Landile Ngxeke’s clash against Mexican Eric Gamboa being postponed from Friday to June 29.
The fight, which would have headlined the Xaba Promotions tournament commemorating Youth Month at the Abbotsford Christian Centre, has been moved to the Orient Theatre together with the entire card featuring seven bouts.
Ngxeke was given a four-day medical layoff after he was examined on Tuesday last week, with his handlers refusing to proceed with the fight after his training was disrupted.
The Sada-born boxer, who will defend the WBO intercontinental and IBF international bantamweight titles against Gamboa, has since resumed training to be ready for the new date.
XP boss Ayanda Matiti said they could not risk going ahead with the fight on Friday without ensuring Ngxeke had fully recovered.
“At this stage of Ngxeke’s career, everything must be in perfection because one mistake could spoil our plans for him,” he said.
“We decided to give him more time to ensure he had fully recovered because Gamboa is no slouch.”
The postponement drilled a big hole in Matiti’s pocket as he had to pay extra for changing flight tickets for the Mexican team.
Matiti was forced to pay R12,000 to change each of Gamboa’s three team members’ tickets and also those of Tanzanian visitors, including junior lightweight boxer Tony Rashid, who will face Mdantsane’s Asanda Gingqi in the same tournament.
Rashid will arrive with his compatriot, John Chaggu, who will be one of the three officials for their ABU title clash.
“These are the kinds of situations we face as promoters, but we have no choice but to soldier on.”
Matiti said he decided to return the tournament to the Orient Theatre after he was informed by the Buffalo City Metro mayor’s office that work on the venue had been completed after weeks of renovations.
Though he had used the Christian Centre in his April show headlined by Siyabulela Hem, who beat John Zile of Ghana to win the WBO world youth junior featherweight title, his broadcast partners, SuperSport, reportedly preferred the Orient Theatre for its vibey atmosphere.
Ngxeke, who occupies lofty spots in all four world sanctioning body rankings, will be on the cusp of securing a title shot if he beats Gamboa, who has an impressive fight record of 26 wins with just two losses.
With activity in the bantamweight division leaving contenders jostling for title shots, Ngxeke is under pressure to record an impressive win to boost his world title shot aspirations.
The division was in the spotlight again at the weekend when Filipino veteran Nonito Donaire captured the interim WBA title with a technical decision over Chilean Andres Campos in Argentina, while Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada also moved up from junior bantamweight to beat Karim Arce to push for his title shot goal.
Daily Dispatch
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