Fight bosses to square off for TV launch

THE move by SABC to invite promoters to bid for its relaunch of boxing broadcasting has sent them jostling to have their tournaments get the nod next month.

The public broadcaster announced in a meeting with boxing stakeholders at Auckland Park last month that promoters should vie for the date of its boxing broadcast relaunch.

This follows its decision to end a four-year boxing blackout after settling the broadcast dispute with Johannesburg promoter Branco Milenkovic out of court.

Milenkovic had taken Boxing SA to court over its decision to take television rights instead of allowing promoters to negotiate directly with the broadcasters for the dates.

After a protracted court case which saw the SABC deciding not to televise tournaments until the impasse had been resolved Milenkovic, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula and the public broadcaster’s acting boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng settled the matter out of court, paving the way for boxing to return to the small screen.

SABC has taken strategic plans to ensure that the return of boxing on television will be a memorable occasion.

This will start with the relaunch in May where promoters will have to bid for the date.

This has inspired promoters across the country to come up with potentially explosive shows with East London again leading the pack.

One such tournament which is favoured to land the relaunch date is Ayanda Matiti’s Xaba Promotions scheduled for May 15.

The tournament will arguably be the biggest boxing event in the region with no fewer than four titles on the bill, including a world title clash.

Mdantsane’s Zolani Marali will defend his WBF junior-welterweight belt against Argentinean Cesar David.

Then the fight everybody has been clamouring for will finally take place when two Mdantsane rivals Mzolisi Yoyo and Ali Funeka meet for Yoyo’s SA junior-welterweight crown.

The fight has been on the cards for a while and at one stage Mdantsane Fitness Joint director Zola Dunywa jokingly implored both boxers to a fight after their workout at the gym.

Funeka earned the right to challenge Yoyo after destroying Jason Bedeman in one round in Johannesburg.

As if that is not enough, Makazole Tete will battle for the vacant SA flyweight crown against Morris Lento.

The title has just been relinquished by Lwandile Sityatha to move up to the junior-bantamweight to challenge reigning SA champion Siphosethu Mvula also on the same show.

Commenting about the tournament, Matiti said he decided to come up with the bouts just to highlight the level of talent in the East London region.

“As you can see that with the exception of Marali’s opponent all these other boxers are from this region which just shows the abundance of talent here,” he said.

So big is the tournament that Matiti is battling to find a suitable venue for it as Orient Theatre is considered too small.

“This is the biggest challenge we are facing here; that of having no venue to hold boxing tournaments and we have been lamenting this for a while,” he said.

Each of the bout is good enough to fill up any local venue on its own let alone four of them.

Another promoter who is putting up a good show to land the right of SABC’s relaunch is Andile Sidinile

of Sijuta Promotions.

Sijuta will put together a potentially thrilling show topped by Mdantsane’s Zolani Tete fighting for the vacant IBF world junior-bantamweight crown against Japanese Teiru Kinoshita in East London on May 18.