The saga over Landile Ngxeke’s boxing defection took another twist on Wednesday when his new team announced his approval to contest for the vacant IBF bantamweight title on the same day his former promoter submitted an objection for signing with another management camp.
Sada-born Ngxeke dropped a bombshell last week when he defected from Xaba Promotions to Colin Nathan’s No Doubt Management just when he was on the verge of getting a world title shot.
This happened when XP had already entered into negotiations for him to either fight for the vacant IBF belt or get a WBO title shot.
Ngxeke cited ambition to fight for a world title as the reason for his departure, but declined to say if he was aware of the negotiations under way to realise his dream.
XP boss Ayanda Matiti vowed to fight his departure and on Wednesday submitted an objection to Boxing SA over his signing by Nathan, overseen by the regulatory body.
Matiti challenged BSA for endorsing Ngxeke’s deal with Nathan when the body was aware of the boxer’s relationship with XP.
“We do not want to reveal the details of our objection, but the regulations favour us for what BSA and Nathan did in this regard,” Matiti said.
BSA CEO Tsholefelo Lejeka confirmed that XP’s legal representatives had informed the body of their intentions to submit an objection.
“I have not yet checked if it has been submitted, but we are aware of their intention.”
While this was unfolding, Nathan announced that the IBF had issued a formal order for Ngxeke to contest the vacant IBF belt against Mexican Jose Seles Reyes.
“We are over the moon for the directive, and we have already informed the IBF that Ngxeke is taking the fight,” he said.
However, it remains to be seen if the fight will proceed in light of the XP objection, which makes Nathan’s deal with Ngxeke null and void until it has been interrogated.
Nathan said he was aware of the objection, but had no concerns about it jeopardising the world title opportunity.
“I would not have touched Ngxeke if he was contracted elsewhere, but when he approached me and I realised he was a free agent, I did everything within the legal realms of BSA,” he said.
Nathan said he had a strong legal counsel behind him to challenge the objection.
“My legal counsel is ready, and you can take that to the bank.”
While this is expected to drag on, the IBF is likely to bypass the fourth-ranked Ngxeke and proceed down the ratings to another available contender until his management and promotion status are cleared.
Matiti admitted the 30-year-old boxer’s world title ambitions might go up in smoke in the light of the objection.
“Like I said, there will be plenty of casualties when this row explodes into the open, but we cannot fold our arms when we feel undermined and victimised.”
Nathan said the dates and venues for the Ngxeke-Reyes bout were yet to be determined.
Ngxeke was last in action in June when he beat Mexican Eric Gamboa for the IBF international and WBO intercontinental bantamweight belts in an XP-promoted show.
The win cemented his world title quest, with detractors questioning his reasons to base his defection on world title ambition when he was in action four months ago.
Daily Dispatch
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