Matika is delighted that not only boxers get given opportunities by the IBO, but also ring officials are given the platform. That is how Matika caught the attention of IBO president Edward Levin.
Matika was one of the top ring officials in the country and then IBO commissioner here, Len Hunt, would appoint him to either referee or judge in IBO title fights. Hunt's life deteriorated and Levine appointed Matika, who has not looked back since.
Matika is aware of the local clash between Chauke and Maljika. Golden Gloves has announced that Maljika will challenge Chauke on March 1 at Emperors Palace. He would not say much, preferring to wait for the head office in the US to resume work today.
“Once that happens, we will then be able to talk about it,” he said.
SA has won IBO belts in 15 of the 17 weight divisions of boxing. It is only the heavyweight and the junior-middleweight divisions where SA has yet to produce an IBO champion.
Roarke Knapp had the opportunity to win the junior-middleweight belt but he succumbed to Jorge Garcia Perez's power last June.
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Matika hopeful SA boxers will win more international titles
'Nothing is stopping us from adding more belts'
Image: Michael Pinyana
The number of International Boxing Organisation (IBO) champions is improving, and Andile Matika is optimistic that with the quality fighters the country has, more belts will come by this year.
“We started and ended last year positively and nothing is stopping us from adding more belts this year,” said the Eastern Cape-based IBO fight commissioner, who has served the Florida, US-based body since 2017.
Now, there are four IBO champions here and three were crowned last year. Ricardo Maljika is the only one who won his belt – the junior-bantamweight – in 2023. He defended it successfully twice last year.
Jack Chauke was the first to claim the flyweight belt in January last year in England. Eight months later, Mpumelelo Tshabalala captured the junior-flyweight title in Johannesburg, and a month later, Thulani Mbenge reclaimed the welterweight crown in England.
Learning the ropes from behind bars
Matika is delighted that not only boxers get given opportunities by the IBO, but also ring officials are given the platform. That is how Matika caught the attention of IBO president Edward Levin.
Matika was one of the top ring officials in the country and then IBO commissioner here, Len Hunt, would appoint him to either referee or judge in IBO title fights. Hunt's life deteriorated and Levine appointed Matika, who has not looked back since.
Matika is aware of the local clash between Chauke and Maljika. Golden Gloves has announced that Maljika will challenge Chauke on March 1 at Emperors Palace. He would not say much, preferring to wait for the head office in the US to resume work today.
“Once that happens, we will then be able to talk about it,” he said.
SA has won IBO belts in 15 of the 17 weight divisions of boxing. It is only the heavyweight and the junior-middleweight divisions where SA has yet to produce an IBO champion.
Roarke Knapp had the opportunity to win the junior-middleweight belt but he succumbed to Jorge Garcia Perez's power last June.
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