Rap voted as 'the most active boxing promotion company in Africa'

Rumble Africa Promotion (Rap) CEO Nomfesane Nyatela is unfazed by her company missing out in the nomination for 2023 Boxing SA’s promoter of the year award. Nominees are Sifiso Shongwe, Jackie Brice, Ayanda Matiti and Zandile Malinga.

The ceremony to recognise excellence will take place at Durban’s ICC on June 30.

Rap did not stage a tournament during the period of April 2022 and March 2023 which is the period under review for the BSA awards.

Nyatela says they are instead having a ball after being voted in the US by the IBF as the most active boxing promotion company in Africaon Friday. The ceremony took place in Chicago where the IBF junior flyweight world title fight which was won by Sivenathi “The Special One” Nontshinga against Hector Flores in Mexico in September was voted the fight of the year.

Nontshinga, who began his career with Rap until he went to Mexico for the big one, made the top three in nomination for BSA’s most sought-after boxer of the year award. Other nominees are reigning SA middleweight king John “Section 29” Bopape and WBA Intercontinental junior bantamweight holder Phumelela “The Truth” Cafu.

Nyatela said: “We are honoured and grateful to the gesture by the IBF. We always make sure that in every tournament we stage there is an IBF-sanctioned bout included. That is how loyal we are to this boxing body which gave our own Welcome Ncita the opportunity to be an IBF world champ in 1990.

“Today SA’s only legitimate world champion is Sivenathi, an IBF junior flyweight champ, from the Eastern Cape.”

Nontshinga, trained by both his father Thembani Gopheni and Colin Nathan will make his voluntary defence on June 16. Again RAP will be in charge when Nontshinga welcomes Filipino Regie Suganob.