There is nothing wrong with reducing boxers’ purses on the eve of a tournament, especially if a promoter has financial challenges after having been let down by a prospective sponsor.
This is what acting Boxing South Africa (BSA) chief executive officer Erick Nsikayezwe Sithole told parliament’s portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture on Friday last week. Sithole was responding to a question posed by one of the members of parliament’s portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture.
“On the matter of reducing purse monies, there is nothing wrong when a promoter is staging a tournament and the sponsors are not coming on board. So, there’s nothing wrong when the promoter says to the boxers “this is what I promised you, can we then now readjust that?” Because for you to stage a tournament, there has to be someone who sponsors you,” Sithole said.
Sithole, who is also a BSA board member, added that black boxing promoters are the most hard pressed when it comes to purse matters as they only rely on government funding in order for them to stage tournaments.
“What is sad about the state of boxing in South Africa, especially our black promoters they rely heavily on government. If the government entity pulls out, you will find that the tournament will not go ahead because they are struggling to pay purse monies,” Sithole said.
“A number of them have struggled to secure private sponsorships. When then a promoter sees that a tournament is about to collapse, the best way is to negotiate with the boxer, if they agree, that can be allowed.”
Sithole also revealed that boxers who took in the Rise of Women In Boxing series have been paid late because the R350 000 meant for tournaments is always sitting with provincial governments. That has resulted in female boxers being pay between 14 and 21 days after they had fought.
