By Monwabisi Jimlongo
The director of operations at Boxing South Africa (BSA) Mandla Ntlanganiso has given his blessings to celebrity boxing bouts even though he’s yet to meet the organisers of the shindig.
Ntlanganiso was speaking as musicians Cassper Nyovest (Refiloe Phoolo) and NaakMusiq (Anga Makubalo) are sweating bucks at the gym preparing for a celebrity bout.
The two musicians are going to swap their microphones and lace their boxing gloves at the famous Sun City Superbowl in Rustenburg on Saturday, 9 April.
“With regards to the celebrity bout, I think we do welcome that as Boxing South Africa. Innovative ways of bringing a new niche of fans to come and support boxing,” Ntlanganiso said.
“However, what needs to be clear is that there’s only one regulatory body of boxing in the country and that is Boxing South Africa. Everything that has to do with boxing has to go via Boxing South Africa.”
Ntlanganiso, who started working for BSA earlier this month, has revealed that they have scheduled a meeting with the organisers of the celebrity bout so that they can thrash out as few issues.
“We as Boxing South Africa will be having an engagement with the organisers of the celebrity boxing next week so that we can lay the foundation, so that we can clear all regulatory frameworks so that each party understands the role they are going to play because boxing is a combat sport and there are risks involved,” Ntlanganiso remarked.
“Therefore, you can’t host any tournament in South Africa that relates to boxing without the involvement of Boxing South Africa. However, we do welcome the innovative ideas, we do welcome the new niche of businesspersons as well as the new niche of fans that we will be getting as Boxing South Africa moving forward. A clear framework will have to be developed so that we all move from the same understanding of what needs to happen. We will be announcing soon in terms of the way forward on the issue of celebrity boxing.”
