The boxing marriage between Duncan Village trainer Mzamo “Chief” Njekanye and Rumble Africa Promotions (RAP) that produced the country’s future world champion Azinga Fuzile is over.
This after Njekanye joined Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves Promotions (GGP) on Tuesday.
Njekanye flew to Johannesburg on Tuesday to conclude a pact with Berman, that will see his fighters fight for the world-acclaimed promoter in future.
Berman confirmed that Njekanye was now part of his GGP team.
“Yes, Chief is with us now and we are excited by this partnership,” he said.
The developments come after Njekanye’s relations with RAP strained over the departure of Fuzile from his stable to join Colin Nathan in Johannesburg.
The 22-year-old unbeaten Duncan Village boxer was developed by Njekanye from when he was 10 years old and turned him into an SA featherweight champion.
However their relations soured when Fuzile complained over a number of issues forcing him to bolt the Duncan Village Boxing Academy where Njekanye is in charge.
Njekanye accused RAP of having a hand in Fuzile’s departure to Nathan who still works with the promotion.
But RAP countered, saying they had tried to mend the rift between Njekanye and Fuzile to no avail.
The departure of Fuzile followed another of his product Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni who also left for Johannesburg.
Fuzile’s departure served as the last straw for Njekanye who prides himself in unearthing boxing talent in Duncan Village.
Njekanye said he joined Berman because of being tired of developing talent for other people.
“People have been benefiting from my hard work but now I have decided to stop this by teaming up with the top promoter in the land,” he said.
“First it was Ndongeni and Fuzile followed but to other people it was life as usual while I was suffering. Now I will keep producing talent as I have been doing and people will be surprised when I unearth another Fuzile. I already have boys who are as good if not better than him.”
Njekanye added that his marriage with RAP had died a while back with the two parties hardly been on speaking terms.
The signs of strained relations came to the fore after RAP did not include Njekanye’s boxers in their scheduled tournament in Port Elizabeth on April 8.
But RAP boss Teris Ntutu said the promotion never had a contract with Njekanye but with some of the boxers under his wing.
“We do not have contracts with managers and some of the managers we work with have working relations with other promoters,” he said.
Asked if RAP will continue to honour their contractual obligations to Njekanye’s boxers, Ntutu added: “It will be up to them if they still want to continue working with us. At RAP we do not stand in the way of boxers who want to advance their careers elsewhere.”
Regarding the absence of Njekanye’s boxers in the PE tournament, Ntutu said several other boxers belonging to other stables were also not featured in the show.
“We cannot feature all boxers in one tournament,” he said.
“Not every promoter does that anyway but as a manager Chief never consulted us and ask about his boxers as it his job as their manager. I do not have a single missed call from him.”
Njekanye had a brief encounter with Berman when Fuzile then under his wing beat Tshifhiwa Munyai in a GGP promoted show with Ntutu being part of the deal.
But relations between RAP and GGP soured after Fuzile reportedly failed a medical and the parties slugged it out on social media...