The determination to buck the trend of development boxing tournaments taking place in the townships has led KayB Promotions to take their show to the Guild Theatre.
The company will stage its 10-bout show on Sunday featuring a bevy of rising stars topped by the two-time provincial champion and Makhanda’s finest, Bongani Fule, facing his homeboy, Siphosihle Mpolweni, in a featherweight duel.
However, eyebrows were raised when KayB took the show to a classy venue in town instead of the norm of using township halls to bring it closer to the masses.
Though the Guild Theatre is one of the oldest halls in East London, often used to host music shows, plays and even political and social dialogue, it has never hosted boxing.
“We also want to bring boxing to the venue and the management is excited to host the sport for the first time,” KayB boss Mzi Booi said.
Since gatecrashing boxing promotion with a tournament featuring an SA title when Zolisa Batyi defended the featherweight title against Lucky Hobyane in March 2024, KayB has kept its promise not to neglect development by working with sister promotions Inathi and Pepzin Promotions to ensure talent is developed at grassroots level.
The two promotions jointly took their development show to the NU10 community hall in October, where rising stars such as provincial junior-lightweight champion Lubabalo Kweyi, top-rated SA junior-flyweight contender Athenkosi Thongwana and women’s bouts saw them become the only companies to stage a nursery show out of their own pockets.
Booi said he was on a mission to fuse boxing with other forms of entertainment and using the Guild Theatre was geared towards that goal.
“Boxing is a lifestyle and we must change this tradition that it belongs to certain venues and groups,” he said.
“Fans must be able to dress up to meet the standard of venues such as the Guild Theatre while adding to its legacy as the oldest hall in the city.”
KayB has already forged links with entertainment clubs in the city by offering packages to attract the corporate sector while also roping in established Gauteng promotional powerhouses to help contribute to unearthing talent.
Talks are under way with Gauteng promoters such as Legacy Promotions, which recently staged Kevin Lerena’s WBC bridgerweight title defence, to come on board.
“There is this never-ending debate that Gauteng promoters poach our ready-made boxers, and I want that to come to an end by entering into a partnership with them to help with developing young talent,” Booi said
Daily Dispatch
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