Paul Tshehla was so worried about the lack of boxing talent in his home Mpumalanga that he threw in his professional promoter's licence to focus on developing amateurs.

And already, his efforts have been rewarded with the number of registered boxers growing exponentially in just a year. "We blundered by ignoring the open boxing [the new term for amateur boxing] and paid too much attention on the professional ranks," said Tshehla, a former professional boxer.

"That is how the province suffered. There was nothing coming through. I have since relinquished my status as a professional promoter and [I] am focusing my energies in open boxing.

"You know, I was shocked to discover during Sanabo's [the SA National Boxing Organisation] annual general meeting in East London last year that Mpumalanga Boxing Organisation (MBO) was the lowest in terms of registered fighters. It only had 14 males and one female from five clubs compared to Eastern Cape, which had 862 males and 120 females from 120 clubs."

Witbank-based Tshehla, chairman of the Ekangala District Boxing Association which works in tandem with MBO, said they now had about 200 registered amateurs. He said they would host an interclub tournament at the Inkomazi Local Municipality in Malelane on Saturday.

The tournament would be jointly hosted by S'Bhakela Boxing Association from Schuldzendal in the Inkomazi region and eMalahleni's ABC Boxing Camp.