By Monwabisi Jimlongo
World championship-chasing Azinga ‘Golden Boy’ Fuzile and his trainer Mzamo ‘Chief’ Njekanye are complaining about being ‘kept in the dark’ on a number of issues ahead of the boxer’s fight against Kenichi Ogawa from Japan in the United States.
Fuzile and Ogawa fight in a vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-lightweight title contest at the Hulu Theatre in Madison Square Garden, New York City, on Saturday, 27 November (Sunday, 28 November, South African time).
“I have been training very hard. However, I’m not happy with some other things. People are not transparent, they negotiated for me without involving me,” Fuzile said without elaborating further.
The former South African featherweight champion added that he’s yet to obtain an American visa almost a week before meeting Ogawa.
“We have applied for a visa, but I have not obtained it yet. I would love to leave for America this week,” Fuzile said.
Njekanye, on the other hand, said that they are going to continue training even though they don’t know when they will leave for the US.
“We are busy with our preparations here. But there are side issues, which concern us. Nobody is giving us directions. We don’t even know as to when we will leave for America. The boy does not even have a visa,” Njekanye, who has a 10-year American visa, said.
Meanwhile, Rumble Africa Promotions (RAP) chairman Teris Ntutu has said that they have tried their best to assist and have decided to take a back seat.
“We’ve tried our best. We have hired a travelling agency from our own coffers as Rumble Africa Promotions. We hired the travelling agency to help them with visa application,” Ntutu said.
“Normally, the hosting promoter is suppose to assist when it comes to visa issues. I made this point clear to Chief that in such fights you are going to be confronted with serious stuff. I advised him that they don’t need to be distracted. I even said that we can’t assume those people have our interest, not Ogawa’s.”
Ntutu added: “I even told him that there would be delays, such delays are normal in boxing. Sometimes these delays are made to frustrate you in your preparations both psychologically and otherwise. Our responsibility is to manage the situation and not allow any distractions.”
Johannesburg-based boxing trainer Nathan, who is RAP’s International adviser, does not want to get involved in the brouhaha.
“If Chief has an issue, he must speak to Teris or call me, he has my number. This matter has nothing to do with me. There’s a travelling agency that has been paid to help them and I have been told that they are not complying,” Nathan said.
