By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Thembelani ‘Shakes’ Hlombe is unhappy after his boxer Siphamandla ‘Toytoy’ Baleni was dropped from number one to fourth place in the December Boxing South Africa (BSA) ratings.
Now Baleni has lost an opportunity to become the mandatory challenger to the South African minimumweight title, which is held by Siyakholwa Kuse from Mdantsane.
Iviwe Mgema, who has not fought since his win over Phumlani Maloni in October last year, is number one in the current SA minimumweight ratings. Mgema moved up from second position.
It seems as if Mthatha-born Baleni’s loss to unbeaten Uzbekistan boxer Hasanboy Dumatov in Russia last month worked against him.
“Willie Saayman has removed Baleni from number one to four. I asked him why he did that and his answer was that he uses his own rules and we should not question him,” Hlombe said.
Saayman, who is the BSA ratings committee chairperson, said when contacted for comment: “You called me at a bad time. I’m too busy at work now.”
Not so long ago, Baleni was rated in the top 15 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organisation (WBO).
Things have changed dramatically as he has dropped out of the top 15 in the WBC, WBA and the IBF. He’s now only rated by the WBO at 11th position.
