Ellis irked by standstill in boxing

Like any other individual who eats, sleeps and talks boxing, Jeff Ellis is miffed by the turmoil that has knocked SA boxing out for a ring.

Promoters cannot function, boxers cannot fight and fans cannot attend events because the legal framework that governs the sport is still unresolved.

The country's biggest promoter Rodney Berman, whose Golden Gloves Promotion, has been forced to postpone an international tournament he intended to stage on March 9 at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg.

This is because there is no sanctioning committee to verify the requirements of the promoter or to verify the fighters that have been matched, leading to approval for the tournament.

Ellis is Golden Gloves tournament coordinator — whose duties include signing of contracts with fighters. The former heavyweight professional boxer, matchmaker, promoter and commissioner is not happy.

“You cannot make an application in December for a tournament that will take place in March, and in February you must go tell all the boxers who were featured there that they cannot fight because there is no sanctioning committee to grant permission,” said Ellis.

“This has got to stop now. Come on, it's like fun and games.”

The only person who can make this happen is sports minister Zizi Kodwa, by appointing an interim boxing board that will keep the administrative side continuing while the court case against the National Professional Boxing Promoters Association is ongoing.

It has happened before when former sports minister Ngconde Balfour appointed an interim board after he abolished provincial boxing commissions in 2000. At the time he was waiting for ex-president Thabo Mbeki to sign the new SA Boxing Act No 11 of 2001 into law.

Should Kodwa appoint an interim board it must be given powers to keep the existing  sanctioning committee members in place until the court case is resolved, or to appoint an interim sanctioning committee.

Berman is quoted on the Golden Gloves website as saying: “This state of flux makes it impossible to go ahead as planned. The immediate consequence is that promoters cannot function, boxers cannot fight and fans cannot attend events because the legal framework that governs the sport is unresolved. 

“As long as it remains this way, the sport will be frozen; potentially the biggest crisis in local boxing since BSA was established 23 years ago. I’m left with no alternative but to postpone.”