Boxing SA’s board failed to stamp its authority and take a decision regarding the future of the vacant SA junior-welterweight belt, which has stagnated the weight division.
Promoter Mzi Booi was willing to stage a fight for that belt, but the boxing regulator did not help him when there was a hurdle in organisational and procedural matters, which stemmed from poor communication.
The title is still vacant after Ntethelelo “Baby G” Nkosi vacated it last April, and there’s no movement in the ratings.
Booi lost interest in that fight, and the No 1 and No 2 contenders – Aphiwe “Swagger” Mboyiya and Sibusiso “Mabhere” Zingange – have since lost their appetite to fight for it too.
Their positions on the standings remain unchanged, with Nkosi rated in the bracket that is reserved specifically for international campaigners.
Nkosi has even come back from Saudi Arabia, where he lost in the semifinals of the lucrative WBC Grand Prix Series in September. He was due to defend against Mboyiya, but the champion had to relinquish it last April to participate in the inaugural WBC Grand Prix series.
Mboyiya was scheduled to fight No 6 contender Sipho Mahlangu and the BSA’s sanctioning committee provisionally sanctioned that proposed 12-rounder in March. But the condition was that Booi needed to submit a step-aside letter from contender No 2, Sibusiso Zingange, confirming in writing that he agreed to allow Mboyiya and Mahlangu to fight for the title.
Zingange’s manager, Vus’Umuzi Malinga, did not give Booi the step-aside letter and instead questioned the audacity in sidelining his charge, who qualified to oppose Mboyiya for the vacant title.
The fight did not happen because the BSA sanctioning committee made it clear that “if the step aside is not available”, the fight could not go ahead.
BSA’s COO Mandla Ntanganiso told Sowetan yesterday that the camps of Mboyiya and Zingange have been contacted and both were still keen to contest for the title. “They both have lined up fights to keep busy while there is no promoter that has shown interest to stage the fight as yet,“ said Ntlanganiso.
“We wish to have a champion with great talent once again in that division.”
Nkosi, who will be back in action in May, is also interested in reclaiming the national belt he defended successfully against Sanele Msimanga in 2024. “I wish to face one of those two guys, preferably Zingange, just to put matters into perspective,” he said yesterday.
