Zantsi urges govt to invest in female boxers

Veteran boxing promoter Mbali “Don Queen” Zantsi is pleading with the sports department to pump in funds and ensure the SABC is fully committed to creating a situation where males and females have the same chances of succees as boxers.

“Only if the country is serious about levelling playfield,” said multiple award-winning Zantsi, whose internationally renowned outfit – Showtime Boxing Promotion – organised the maiden women-only professional boxing tournament in Durban on August 10 2007.

The 1954 Act, which prohibited women from boxing,was repealed, and Boxing SA was established in terms of the South African Boxing Act No 11 of 2001.

In Zantsi's tourney, Noni Tenge and Unathi Myekeni fought their first professional fights. That international event coincided with the Women’s Month celebrations.

There was so much excitement when Tenge made history in 2011 by becoming the first female in Africa to win the IBF title, one of the top four most credible belts. Others are the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO.

That bout was part of a male-dominated event that Branco Milenkovic organised in Brakpan, where IBF championship chairman Lindsey Tucker presented politicians Paul Mashatile and Zwelinzima Vavi with miniature IBF belts.

“The expectation was that the government would pump in money in the effort to bring more fighters into the surface but it was not to be,” said the Gqeberha-based Zantsi.

“Staging a female-only tournament is so expensive. You must bring ring officials from all around the country to where you are because there is no province that has nine female ring officials to officiate in a tournament. That talks about flights, accommodation and meals. You still have to pay them.

“You approach the corporate for sponsorship and the question about television puts you off because live broadcast on SABC seems to be reserved for promoters who belong to the National Professional Boxing Promoters Association.”

Zantsi's hard work and commitment to the emancipation of females from their male counterparts in boxing earned her the Women's Sport of the Year award from GSport magazine in 2009. The magazine, started by Kass Naidoo in 2006, was aimed at raising the profile of South African women in sports.

Zantsi said they can't even begin to consider approaching SuperSport because it works exclusively with one or two promoters.

BSA launched the Women in Boxing Series in Durban in August last year. Every province is funded by its particular sports department. It was a trench from the sports department designed for that project.

It was R350,000 last year, and it has been reduced to R300,000 this year. BSA facilitated a meeting on how they should go about it and promoters in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape came together to do a joint promotion.

Zantsi said that amount was a pittance. “It is purse monies for boxers, two medical doctors [as per the Boxing SA Act], paramedics, hire a boxing ring, have security, cater for officials, accommodate boxers that came from other provinces; it just too much [to do],” she said.

“At the end of the day, you need to have something which says I worked – profit. But I tell you now, you will be in the red. I’m hopeful the new committee of that series [Nande Mheshe, Zanele Mdodana and Shereen Hunter] will take it to another level.”

Women in Boxing Series worked well in its first year. Activity increased and more national champions were produced. It has been reported that KwaZulu-Natal will host the first tournament of the Rise of Women in Boxing Series with Nomfundo Malinga’s Sugarboy Boxing Promotions staging a show in Ladysmith on August 30.

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