Boxing SA did not host annual awards as it 'has no money'

Boxing SA (BSA) did not have money to host the annual awards, which usually take place a day before its convention, a source told Sowetan on Wednesday.

The general belief was that the constant chopping and changing of boards caused the special day in the calender calendar of South African boxing to be shelved off.

“No, decision-making was not an issue because Mandla Ntlanganiso was there as the accounting authority; BSA does not have money,” the source said.

The last time BSA held the awards was in 2018, and the last convention took place in 2013 when Dali Mpofu was chair of the regulatory board.

BSA acting CEO Tsholofelo Lejaka concurred with the source. “Yes, that is true. There was no money,” he said.

The regulator gets almost R20m annually from the government, and it is unclear how can it not have money. “Owing to BSA's financial position, the board had to adopt a cost containment posture. This means that in the next edition of the annual awards, the period under review will have to be extended so that all licensees who excelled in their different categories are not left out,” said Lejaka.

“If the period under review is 12 months, this then means we will extend it to 24 months to cover the year that we did not have the awards.”

This will be sweet music to the ears to the likes of Phumelela Cafu and Jackson Chauke who won world titles against all odds in foreign countries. Cafu won the WBO junior bantamweight belt in Japan, where he caused a major upset by ending the reign of Kosei Tanaka at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on October 14.

He had not travelled outside SA before, but he showed nerves of steel against someone who had everything, the crowd included, going for him. Cafu had only trainer-manager Colin Nathan, assistant trainer Shannon Strydom and cut man Bernie Pailman rooting for him.

Chauke, on other hand, won the IBO flyweight title after defeating Kaisy Khademi who had the entire crowd inside York Hall in London screaming for him on January 27 2024.

At 39, just after becoming the outright owner of the SA belt due to registering five successful defences which is the required number from any male champ to be able to own the championship title, Chauke achieved that feat alongside trainers Damien Durandt and Andson Kazembe.

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