A number of promoters, boxers and managers have signed a petition asking the Pretoria High Court not to grant the National Professional Boxing Promoters Association (NPBPA) any relief in the matter against Minister of Sport, Zizi Kodwa.
The NPBPA successfully interdicted the installation of the new board of Boxing South Africa (BSA) by Kodwa citing lack of consultation in December last year.
Now more than 120 promoters, boxers and managers argue that they want boxing activities to continue while the leaders of the NPBPA are fighting tooth and nail to ensure that tournaments don’t take place in South Africa.
“The petitioners petition against the relief sought by the National Professional Boxing Promoters Association (NPBPA), who is the applicant. The petitioners are petitioning against the relief sought by the applicant because they don’t recognise the NPBPA as an association that truly represents the interests of most boxing promoters in South Africa,” a letter from Mnyaka Inc, a law firm representing the promoters, boxers and managers, said.
“The petitioners do not support, consent or approve of the actions taken by the NPBPA. The petitioners question that the NPBPA has over 50 (fifty) members.”
The petition concluded: “The petitioners implore the esteemed above honourable court to carefully consider the concerns raised in this letter and take decisive action to address the underlying issues plaguing the boxing community in its decision.”
South African boxing has been going through a painful period since the NPBPA won a court case in December. And promoters only started staging tournaments in the last weekend of February.
