Xaba Promotions boss Ayanda Matiti has explained why Ayanda Ndulani’s world title defence against Siphamandla Baleni was postponed to next month.
Initially, Ndulani was scheduled to defend his International Boxing Organisation (IBO) minimumweight belt against Baleni at a Xaba Promotions tournament at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC) this coming Friday.
But the fight has since been postponed to the end of next month and is going to be promoted by Sibongile Matiti’s Zbashy Promotions.
“The fight is going to take place in August. This has been caused by budgetary constraints. Before taking this decision I sought the approval of the IBO on a possibility of Ndulani fighting in a six or eight rounds bout,” Matiti remarked.
“Remember that Ndulani last fought in November and was due for a title defence. The IBO approved our request and we postponed the title fight to October. We advised Ndulani to take a six or an eight rounds bout, which he declined. I then called Sibongile and Linda (Saliwa) to a meeting. Linda promotes Baleni and Sibongile promotes Ndulani. I advised Sibongile to prioritise Ndulani and she agreed to promote his fight next month. This is a pure business decision.”
Ndulani’s trainer Kholisile ‘KC’ Cengani, on the other hand, also confirmed that their fight will only take place next month.
“We were told on Monday evening that our fight had been postponed to next month. There was a hint last Friday that the fight might not happen this week. So we were not surprised when it got postponed. We are going to continue with our preparations. Ndulani is a very strong boy and he is okay,” Cengani said.
Meanwhile, following the postponement of his fight against Ndulani, Baleni is now going to face Malawian boxer George Kandulo in an eight rounds bout.
Kandulo will go to his fight against Baleni following two successive losses to Iviwe Mgema last month and Sabelo Nkosi four months ago.
