ALEX Phiri did not develop cold feet, forcing the cancellation of his eight- round fight with Phillip Ndou at Wembley Arena in Johannesburg on Friday night.

ALEX Phiri did not develop cold feet, forcing the cancellation of his eight- round fight with Phillip Ndou at Wembley Arena in Johannesburg on Friday night.

The Zimbabwean failed his medical test and Boxing SA's chairperson Peter Ngatane knew about this only on the day of the fight.

He said Dr Peter Chadderton advised him just before the start of Branco Milenkovic's tournament at 8pm that Phiri had medical problems and therefore could not fight.

Ngatane informed Milenkovic five minutes before the fight's scheduled start at 9pm.

"Peter did not give me the real reason," Milenkovic said.

Ngatane made it clear that it was unethical to discuss a person's medical status with a third party.

The medical examination was conducted by Chadderton on Thursday.

A source from Namibia told Sowetan yesterday that Phiri had the same medical problem in Windhoek last month.

Foreign boxers should go through medical tests in their own countries, get cleared and be given medical certificates declaring them fit to fight where they are invited.

The same applies to South African boxers when they are invited to fight outside the country.

"But we always insist on checking them here to satisfy ourselves," Ngatane said.

"You know too well that many a time we have had to turn boxers back because of the same medical reason."