Boxing official Gezani Hlungwane will not be officiating WBF-sanctioned fights until its hierarchy is satisfied that his scoring has improved, the federation’s president Howard Goldberg told Sowetan.
“Hlungwane will not be used in World Boxing Federation fights going forward,” said Goldberg, who revealed that the decision was taken after he and his colleagues reviewed the sanctioning body's intercontinental bantamweight title fight between defending champion Akani Sambu and Sanele Cebekhulu on May 31.
Goldberg and his colleagues were not pleased with Hlungwane’s conduct as a judge in the fight in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, where Sambu from the province retained his belt by a split points decision.
Michael Phiri from Limpopo scored the closely contested 10-rounder 95-93 for Sambu, while Phumeza Zinakile from Johannesburg also scored it 95-93, but in favour of the KwaZulu-Natal challenger.
Hlungwane scored it 97-91 for Sambu, and his scoring caused an uproar. “It was felt that two of the judges’ scores were reasonable while the third judge [Hlungwane] was way off in his scoring," said Goldberg.
“The WBF does not ever change the results of a fight but recommends most strongly [without enforcing] that a rematch takes place with neutral judges appointed. I do believe [SA] has got some of the best ring officials – Elroy Marshall, Sipho Ndongeni, Riaan Janse van Rensburg and Phumeza Zinakile. Sambu did well in the beginning, and Cebekhulu did very well in the end; we thought Cebekhulu won a close decision.”
Sambu’s trainer, Hloni “The Superstar” Maboko, said: “We welcome the remarks taken after the fight being reviewed. If we have to fight Cebekhulu again, we will do it.”
The former exciting professional boxer agreed the margins were wide, and hoped the decision did not fuel “politics”. He added: “I can say I am disappointed with Akani, falling and stuff like that. I don’t know if he was acting or if he was hit below the belt. But it did not make boxing look cool."
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