Bongani Magasela

Bongani Magasela

Award-winning referee and judge Andrew Smale has been appointed by the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) as its fourth vice president in Africa.

WBO president Francisco Valcarcel made the appointment on Monday. He congratulated Smale on the achievement and urged him to keep up the good work.

Smale, whose prowess earned him the title of Boxing SA's most promising official in 2006, was as humble as he has always been since he got involved in boxing in 1999.

"Africa now has a representative on the WBO executive committee. I pledge to work even harder to justify this appointment and to ensure that African boxing takes its rightful place on the world stage," he said yesterday.

A few months ago, Smale was appointed as the representative of the same organisation in Africa.

"I am honoured by the confidence shown by this second appointment. The president feels that he was happy with the hard work that I put in, and that it is high time that the WBO was fully represented in Africa," added Smale who is no longer a fight official.

This is a huge loss for local boxing because there is not much experience coming through.

Smale becomes the fifth official from South Africa to occupy a senior post in one of the big boxing bodies. Others are Stan Christodoulou (WBA), Peter Ngatane (WBC), Howard Goldberg and Loyiso Mtya (both WBF).