MAMALI Promotions boss Siphatho Handi has allayed any fears of major disorganisation following the postponement of the eagerly anticipated female WBA interim welterweight title clash between Mdantsane lass Noni Tenge and Oxandia Castillo from Dominican Republic.
The clash scheduled for the Orient Theatre next Saturday was pushed back for a week after Castillo suffered an injury during training.
The fight will now be held on June 7 at the same venue.
The 19-year-old sprained her ankle and had to lay off training for a period while the injury healed.
The disaster struck when she and her team consisting of chief trainer Famila Garcia Alcibiades and his assistant Rivera Wilfredo were due to leave Dominican Republic for Paris where they would have taken a connecting flight to OR Tambo airport en route to East London yesterday.
The team was expected to arrive in East London tomorrow.
“Yes we received an e-mail from Castillo’s camp requesting a postponement because she suffered an injury in training,” Handi said.
Asked if the postponement had presented any logistical nightmares, he said the visa for Castillo team was valid until June 10 making the new date still viable.
“It would have been a problem had we rescheduled the fight after June 10 because that would have meant that the team should apply for new visas,” Handi added.
The referee Jesus Antonio Morata Garcia as well as one of the three judges Juan Manuel Garcia Reyes both from Spain will fly to East London next week.
The other two judges for the fight will be local with Siya Vabaza-Booi the only one from East London assisted by Johannesburg veteran Wally Snowball.
Hall of Famer Stan Christodoulou will supervise the fight.
Tenge and Castillo will vie for the right to challenge pound for pound best female boxer Cecilia Braekhus, who holds all but one of the major world titles in the division.
Castillo who suffered her first defeat in 15 fights when she was stopped by Braekhus in September last year is gunning for a rematch against the Norwegian world champion.
But she must first get past Tenge who, if successful, will be bidding for her second world title following her reign as the IBF queen two years ago.
Tenge is also on a rebuilding phase in her career following her ninth round stoppage defeat by American Laila MaCarter in a WBA light middleweight title clash in September 2012.
Handi said Castillo was gutted with the injury and pleaded with him not to cancel the fight.
“She sees this as the big opportunity for her to get a rematch against Braekhus,” Handi said.
“Luckily the WBA had no problem with the postponement.”
The tournament will feature six more women’s bouts with five of them being for the South African titles in a big day for women’s boxing.
In the non title bout former WBF champion Unathi Myekeni will make her return to the ring for the first time since suffering her first professional loss to Argentine Simone Da Silva Duarte last June.
She will dust off the cobwebs against Raider Muleba from Johannesburg in a six-round clash for the junior-featherweight title.
Tenge fight hits a snag
The clash scheduled for the Orient Theatre next Saturday was pushed back for a week after Castillo suffered an injury during training.
The fight will now be held on June 7 at the same venue.
The 19-year-old sprained her ankle and had to lay off training for a period while the injury healed.
The disaster struck when she and her team consisting of chief trainer Famila Garcia Alcibiades and his assistant Rivera Wilfredo were due to leave Dominican Republic for Paris where they would have taken a connecting flight to OR Tambo airport en route to East London yesterday.
The team was expected to arrive in East London tomorrow.
“Yes we received an e-mail from Castillo’s camp requesting a postponement because she suffered an injury in training,” Handi said.
Asked if the postponement had presented any logistical nightmares, he said the visa for Castillo team was valid until June 10 making the new date still viable.
“It would have been a problem had we rescheduled the fight after June 10 because that would have meant that the team should apply for new visas,” Handi added.
The referee Jesus Antonio Morata Garcia as well as one of the three judges Juan Manuel Garcia Reyes both from Spain will fly to East London next week.
The other two judges for the fight will be local with Siya Vabaza-Booi the only one from East London assisted by Johannesburg veteran Wally Snowball.
Hall of Famer Stan Christodoulou will supervise the fight.
Tenge and Castillo will vie for the right to challenge pound for pound best female boxer Cecilia Braekhus, who holds all but one of the major world titles in the division.
Castillo who suffered her first defeat in 15 fights when she was stopped by Braekhus in September last year is gunning for a rematch against the Norwegian world champion.
But she must first get past Tenge who, if successful, will be bidding for her second world title following her reign as the IBF queen two years ago.
Tenge is also on a rebuilding phase in her career following her ninth round stoppage defeat by American Laila MaCarter in a WBA light middleweight title clash in September 2012.
Handi said Castillo was gutted with the injury and pleaded with him not to cancel the fight.
“She sees this as the big opportunity for her to get a rematch against Braekhus,” Handi said.
“Luckily the WBA had no problem with the postponement.”
The tournament will feature six more women’s bouts with five of them being for the South African titles in a big day for women’s boxing.
In the non title bout former WBF champion Unathi Myekeni will make her return to the ring for the first time since suffering her first professional loss to Argentine Simone Da Silva Duarte last June.
She will dust off the cobwebs against Raider Muleba from Johannesburg in a six-round clash for the junior-featherweight title.
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