Former and present SA boxing champions in both the male and female sections who are owed championship belts by Boxing SA after registering required number of defences will soon get them.
That assurance was made yesterday by acting CEO Cindy Nkomo.
She said BSA is well aware that there are national champions who claimed ownership of those belts after making the required number of defences, which is five for men and three for women, but were not awarded their belts.
Nkomo said the regulatory body met last month and the issue of the belts and BSA's relationship with the amateur wing, the SA National Amateur Boxing Organisation (Sanabo), were discussed at length.
“We would have wanted to make sure that they receive their belts. Unfortunately, owing to financial constraints, we were unable to address that issue. However, we are at a time right now where we can start doing an exercise to find out exactly how many belts we are talking about,” she said.
“We will be sending out communication to our licensees requesting that every boxer that has defended their titles uninterrupted provide us with that information.”
Nkomo said BSA will then verify the dates and opponents. “Once that is done we will know the numbers and we will start communicating with former and current champions. It will not be an overnight thing but certainly a step towards rectifying that backlog,” said Nkomo.
She also announced that Sanabo will be housed at BSA's offices in Johannesburg.
“This in order to help Sanabo re-establish themselves and to make sure that they have a proper operational structure. This will happen with immediate effect. We will be entering into a memorandum of agreement so that we have a clear path on how things like sparring happen. We also want to address their complaint that their stars are rushed to graduate to the professional ranks and end up not going to the Olympics.”
SA will not have amateur boxers in the Olympics next year, yet Sanabo was given R10m in 2017 for its boxing league to find the next Olympians.
Ayabonga Sonjica and Siphiwe Lusizi were the last locals to participate in the Olympics in London in 2012.
SA Boxing champs to get belts owed to them
Image: Supplied
Former and present SA boxing champions in both the male and female sections who are owed championship belts by Boxing SA after registering required number of defences will soon get them.
That assurance was made yesterday by acting CEO Cindy Nkomo.
She said BSA is well aware that there are national champions who claimed ownership of those belts after making the required number of defences, which is five for men and three for women, but were not awarded their belts.
Nkomo said the regulatory body met last month and the issue of the belts and BSA's relationship with the amateur wing, the SA National Amateur Boxing Organisation (Sanabo), were discussed at length.
“We would have wanted to make sure that they receive their belts. Unfortunately, owing to financial constraints, we were unable to address that issue. However, we are at a time right now where we can start doing an exercise to find out exactly how many belts we are talking about,” she said.
“We will be sending out communication to our licensees requesting that every boxer that has defended their titles uninterrupted provide us with that information.”
Nkomo said BSA will then verify the dates and opponents. “Once that is done we will know the numbers and we will start communicating with former and current champions. It will not be an overnight thing but certainly a step towards rectifying that backlog,” said Nkomo.
She also announced that Sanabo will be housed at BSA's offices in Johannesburg.
“This in order to help Sanabo re-establish themselves and to make sure that they have a proper operational structure. This will happen with immediate effect. We will be entering into a memorandum of agreement so that we have a clear path on how things like sparring happen. We also want to address their complaint that their stars are rushed to graduate to the professional ranks and end up not going to the Olympics.”
SA will not have amateur boxers in the Olympics next year, yet Sanabo was given R10m in 2017 for its boxing league to find the next Olympians.
Ayabonga Sonjica and Siphiwe Lusizi were the last locals to participate in the Olympics in London in 2012.
KZN, Western Cape finally have BSA managers
Boxing in SA is in hospital ward
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Related articles
Latest Videos