Bout cancellation floors Nxoshe

The cancelled tournament in Cape Town last Sunday has put the focus firmly on Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni, who has been most-affected due to similar misfortune that has befallen him in previous bouts.

Ndongeni was scheduled to headline the tournament with a fight against Ghanaian, Razak Nettey, in an international lightweight contest.

But the cancellation of the bout, meant Ndongeni yet again, did not reap the rewards following six weeks of preparations. Two years ago he could not be paid his R1-million prize money for winning the Premier Boxing League (PBL), and did not receive his purse for a clash against Tanzanian Emilio Norfat in East London in April.

But, while all and sundry are rightfully sympathising with Ndongeni, spare a thought for Thembelani Nxoshe who was also scheduled to fight in the cancelled tournament.

Nxoshe was due to make the maiden defence of his SA flyweight crown against Dalisizwe Komani.

Just like Ndongeni, Nxoshe is another boxer who has been blighted by bad luck since he burst onto the scene with a gusty win over Doctor Ntsele in 2014.

The unheralded Mdantsane boxer thought he had ascended the flyweight throne only for Boxing SA to relegate the fight to a non-title bout due to certain compliances not being met by the organisers.

Nxoshe spent the better part of his career trying to fight for reinstatement, but to no avail, until he appeared to lose interest in the fight game.

Losses to Filipino Rene Dacquel and Mfundo Gwayana followed until Nxoshe regrouped and scored a resounding knockout victory over Gwayana in a rematch. Not only did the win resurrect his career, but finally netted him the title that had eluded him for two years.

Just when he was expected to finally cash in on the title against Komani, came the shocking news of the cancellation. “To say Nxoshe is disappointed would be an understatement of the year,” promoter Thando Zonke said. “We all know what happened to him when he was denied his title for two years but he persevered until he became a champion. His wish was to use this title to feed his family but here he is again being subjected to this unfortunate incident.”

Zonke said he was currently engaged in negotiations with Mzoli Tempi who was supposed to organise the tournament about repayment of his boxer.

Boxing SA chief executive Tsholofelo Lejeka had promised that Tempi would be required to pay 10% of the boxers’ purses as per rule.

How Tempi will get the money when he could not raise funds for the tournament remains to be seen, but as history has told us, promoters who transgress only get suspended with no further action taken to recover the funds.