South African featherweight champion Asanda Gingqi’s fight against unbeaten Russian boxer Albert Batyrgaziev scheduled for next month is still not finalised.
This comes after the Russians delayed sending a revised contract to Gingqi’s management and instead enquired about Lerato Dlamini’s availability for a fight against Batyrgaziev for the latter’s International Boxing Federation (IBF) Intercontinental featherweight title.
However, Dlamini’s trainer Colin Nathan turned the Russians down telling them that his boxer was not available as he’s on the verge of fighting for a world title.
Unbeaten Gingqi was supposed to have faced Batyrgaziev last December, but travel restrictions which were enforced after the discovery of the COVID-19 variant Omicron robbed him of a chance to face the Russian.
With Gingqi unable to travel to Russia, Batyrgaziev ended up fighting against former World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver junior-featherweight champion Franklin Manzanilla and added the Venezuelan to his list of victims.
“I’m going to meet Global Boxing Stars, who work as agents, at 7pm in Johannesburg today (Thursday). They represent Dynamo Boxing Promotions. My understanding is that they are not continuing with the IBF Intercontinental title, there’s a change, but will hear everything during the meeting. They have always insisted that there’s no change from the original contract,” Gingqi’s manager Khanyisa Jekwa said.
Dynamo Boxing Promotions is Sergey Strelkov’s promotional outfit. Strelkov promoted last December’s fight between Batyrgaziev and Manzanilla.
Gingqi from Mdantsane has not fought since he defeated Abdul-Aziz Kunert to win the SA featherweight title in Johannesburg in September last year.
Meanwhile, Batyrgaziev has stopped all his five opponents including South Africa’s Sibusiso Zingange and he made history when he became the first professional boxer to win an Olympic gold medal after he defeated American Duke Ragan at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan last August.
