Johannesburg – Nuggety WBA and IBO champion Hekkie Budler has emerged as a shining light in the morass that has seen South African boxing slip further into an administrative mire during 2014.
Budler heads the list of six South Africans who appear in Ring Magazine’s authoritative world rankings – generally considered the more reliable of boxing’s myriad of international ratings.
He cemented his status as the leading strawweight fighter in the world with a convincing points victory over China’s former WBC champion Xiong Zhao Zhong in Monte Carlo and is Ring’s number one contender for their vacant title in boxing’s lightest weight division.
Ring also ranks IBF champion Zolani Tete as the number four junior bantamweight; Moruti Mthalane (flyweight) and Jeffrey Mathebula (junior featherweight) in sixth positions; featherweight Simpiwe Vetyeka as the number seven featherweight contender and Thabiso Mchunu at number eight in the competitive cruiserweight division.
Although South African boxing is considered to be in the doldrums, with crowd attendances and interest a far cry from the past, the relative decline is due more to administrative and organisational shortcomings than in the ring.
This was further confirmed with Mthalane’s recent impressive victory over highly-regarded Mexican Odilon Zaleta at the Durban Convention Centre.
The administration of the sport in the country is akin to anarchy, in spite of Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula’s promises and proclamations to clean up Boxing SA’s act and to insert effective and acceptable authority at the helm of the sport.
While chairperson of the BSA board, Ntambi Ravele, may be doing her best to unravel the position, no one seems sure who is actually running the show on a hands-on basis.
Moffat Qithi, who was suspended some 18 months ago after failing to disclose a criminal record and other irregularities, is making statements on behalf of BSA in spite of his situation not having been clarified.
Complicating the puzzle further is the fact that Loyiso Mtya, who was appointed acting CEO in place of Qithi, was himself suspended following charges of accepting pay-backs from promoters and sexual harassment of a female member of his staff.
Mtya has since disappeared from the boxing scene, while frontline promoter Branco Milenkovic, who won his defamation case against BSA and Qithi earlier this year, is a lot less prominent in the arena.
In contrast, enterprising and opportunist promoter Rodney Berman has taken the boxing bull by the horns and guided his Golden Gloves organisation into increased success via promotions in Monte Carlo, Monaco, featuring top overseas fighters like Gennady Golovkin and Martin Murray, as well as locals like Budler, all added to a staple diet of tournaments at Emperors Palace.
The lucrative tie-up with the Joburg gaming resort and the almost exclusive exposure afforded him by pay-channel SuperSport gives Berman an advantage over his rival promoters, who are crying foul because of SABC’s continued reluctance to televise local boxing.
Tragedy struck South African boxing in 2014 when popular 31 year-old Phindile Mwelase died in October after being knocked out in a women’s bout in Pretoria by Liz Butler and remaining in a coma for 10 days.
Ironically, as boxing battles to regain its former status in South African sport, the maverick mixed martial arts format continues to increase its secular following at a considerable rate. – Sapa