Lejaka promises to improve standard of officiating in boxing

The issue of ring officiating in SA boxing still remains a bag of mixed fortunes which nonetheless requires close attention and nurturing, says Boxing SA acting CEO Tsholofelo Lejaka.

"While there are many inspirational stories and exceptional accomplishments to be told about SA's ring officials, there are also sad and worrying stories," he told Sowetan on Thursday.

"There has been growing pattern for concerns about the quality of ring officiating in some of the tournaments. In some instances, these concerns have also been accompanied by allegations that flagged out certain types of conduct that raised eyebrows and invited paranoia and suspicion."

Lejaka agrees that the outcomes of some fights have left many in the boxing space asking themselves which fights were some of the ring officials watching when they scored because their judgement just didn’t seem to correlate with the action that unfolded right before their eyes.

"Checks and balances in the system are also important and so far this seems to be the one thing that has worked well," he said.

Some bouts had to be reviewed at the request of aggrieved parties, and most have come out against the initial scoring by judges. Nothing changes except that a rematch is ordered.

"Consequence management for ring officials whose judgment and scoring has been flagged as problematic is the one area that still need serious attention," reasoned Lejaka.

The last time ring officials had a training programme was in 2017. He said ring officials raised a number of concerns about their conditions of service which quite honestly can leave a tear in your face, more especially when you consider what the remuneration scales and treatment of their counterparts who officiate bouts for boxing world bodies that sanction fights here.

"This issue of their remuneration scales has also been raised by (sports minister) Gayton McKenzie, who emphatically said it needed urgent review because it is just not acceptable that we still have ring officials who earn a paltry R350 (per a tournament)," he said.

"In summary, it can be said that they’ve been left at the mercy of promoters and wages depend on the good heart of a promoter. This scenario is recipe for disaster because it's a breeding ground for patronage and undue influence on the ring officials by promoters and other interested parties."

Lejaka said these challenges lay ahead of BSA as the regulator wraps up the financial year that’s due to end  on March 31.

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