Boxers seem unwilling to play ball with Boxing SA regarding the renewal of licences and their behaviour could impact negatively on their future, especially during this period where tournaments are coming thick and fast.

Promoters are having a difficult time trying to organise tournaments but their passion for the sport has made them determined to overcome any obstacle, and that includes by staging tournaments in empty halls. Most of them don’t even have the opportunity to make money through broadcast rights.

In July, boxers made a heartfelt plea to the authorities – government in particular – to allow them to resume fighting, even if it meant behind closed doors. Many of them had not fought and earned money since President Cyril Ramaphosa implemented the lockdown in March to curb the spread of coronavirus.

But the same boxers are not licensed with BSA. The regulatory body recently released a list of its approved licensees but what is interesting is that boxers whose names are mentioned in the upcoming tournaments in Gauteng, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Eastern Cape next month are not on that list of boxers with valid licences.

The missing names include those of Lunga Stemela and Toto Helebe, who are said to be in Rumble Africa's tournament on December 6. Stemela is to fight Azinga Fuzile with Helebe taking on Lerato Dlamini. Koos Sibiya, who is said to be fighting Anthony Moloisane in the Free State on December 12, is also not licensed. Notable names of international fighters excluded from the list are those of Zolani Tete and Gideon Buthelezi.

Acting CEO of BSA Cindy Nkomo said: “All licensees who were approved at the board meeting on October 31 and who had submitted their applications both manually and online have been approved and the names that are on the website are an indication of the approval.”

When drawn into specifics in terms of boxers that don’t appear on the list, she said: “If you have not applied for your licence renewal the name will not appear on the list. If there are any errors with BSA’s list we would have expected that we would be notified by the affected licensees.”

She said licence renewals for the current financial period opened on November 4 last year and closed for early approval on February 28 this year. Licensees could still renew until March 31.