Last week’s astonishing steps taken by the Boxing SA board to overrule the decision taken by sanctioning committee not to give permission to SA flyweight champ Jackson Chauke to make a voluntary defence against eighth-rated contender Phumelele Cafu because Chauke was due for a mandatory defence against No 1 contender Thabang Ramagole, must not overshadow the good weekend it was for boxing in general.
Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces were buzzing. The beauty is that SA titles featured in all the tournaments.
Action began on Thursday in Fourways, where Hedda Wolmarans won the IBF Africa junior- welterweight belt after defeating Malawian Ruth Chisale over 10 rounds. Five SA ring officials aptly handled this bout, which was attended by IBF president Daryl Peoples.
Then in Gqeberha on Saturday night, Sanele Magwaza and Razel Mohammed won in key fights. Magwaza retained the WBF Africa bantamweight belt on points against Arnel Lubisi while Mohammed became the country’s first heavyweight female champion after defeating Lilian Molala for the vacant title.
In Kempton Park on the same evening, former IBO cruiserweight undefeated champion Kevin Lerena won the WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title with a fourth round knockout of Romanian Bogdan Dinu while Joshua Pretorius dethroned Juan Roux as the SA heavyweight champion .
In Durban on Sunday, Mapule “Thunder” Ngubane regained the national junior-middleweight belt she lost in the boardrooms last year.
Her victory against Rushda Mallick shattered the chances of the Durandt Gym producing its 110th national champion.
Ngubane whose career is guided by trainer Samson Ndlovu said: “While I am happy to reclaim my belt, I am also scared because of what I went through last time when I was the champion. I won the belt in 2014 and defended only once. I just hope that this win will this time open doors for me to get opportunities to fight for other titles.”
Former world champions Thulani Malinga and Francois Botha, former SA lightweight champ Irvin Buhalu who is now a member of BSA’s sanctioning committee, and the regulatory body’s CEO Nsikayezwe Sithole were in attendance.
In Tuesday's edition, we intimated that SuperSport presenter Carol Tshabalala as ring announcer had made the wrong call at a fight in East London, whereas it was Phakamile Jacobs. We apologise to Tshabalala for this oversight.
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