Winds of change in local boxing have begun to blow. Today, Boxing SA is implementing the compulsory training and assessment of ring officials.
The regulatory body’s acting CEO Nsikayezwe Sithole explained that their approach is in line with the South African Boxing Act No 11 of 2001 and its regulations.
It sounds like a new concept because previous boards did not implement it. Credit, though, must go to the Gauteng department of sport, arts and culture for providing funding.
He said about 35 ring officials from Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and Free State will go through their first test, which is training at the gym of trainer Anton Gilmore in the Southern Suburbs today.
“Tomorrow they will do a written test,” said Sithole, adding his board will thoroughly go through every written test once all licensees in every department in all provinces have completed their training and decide who gets licensed for the 2023/24 period.
He said this also applied to new applicants intending to be licensees in all categories.
Previous boards never implemented assessment
Boxing ring officials' training starts
Image: Veli Nhlapo
Winds of change in local boxing have begun to blow. Today, Boxing SA is implementing the compulsory training and assessment of ring officials.
The regulatory body’s acting CEO Nsikayezwe Sithole explained that their approach is in line with the South African Boxing Act No 11 of 2001 and its regulations.
It sounds like a new concept because previous boards did not implement it. Credit, though, must go to the Gauteng department of sport, arts and culture for providing funding.
He said about 35 ring officials from Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and Free State will go through their first test, which is training at the gym of trainer Anton Gilmore in the Southern Suburbs today.
“Tomorrow they will do a written test,” said Sithole, adding his board will thoroughly go through every written test once all licensees in every department in all provinces have completed their training and decide who gets licensed for the 2023/24 period.
He said this also applied to new applicants intending to be licensees in all categories.
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“There is no witch-hunting at all. This is about doing what regulations require us as the board to do with the hope to get quality in all departments of boxing,” he said.
On the side of ring officials, there are continuous glaring mistakes. Just last weekend, two judges voted Roarke Knapp the winner of a 10 round bout against Ahmed El Mousaiou 98-93 and 96-94.
The third judge scored the same fight 99-91 also in favour of Knapp. How that judge arrived at that scoring remains a mystery.
That brought back memories of what happened today, 26 years ago, when Ghanaian boxing legend Azumah “The Professor” Nelson lost the WBC junior lightweight belt by a dubious split points decision to American Genaro Hernandez in the US on March 22 1997.
One judge scored the fight 115-114 in favour of Nelson while the other two scored it 116-114 and 118-110 for Hernandez.
The third scoring was ludicrous and the verdict drew boos from about 4,000 fans inside Memorial Coliseum in Texas. Sadly, Hernandez lost his battle with cancer in 2011 at the age of 45.
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