The hospitalisation of two boxers in less than a month is a matter of concern, so says Dr Robert Selepe, former chairperson of the medical committee at Boxing South Africa (BSA).
Sinethemba Blom spent five nights at a Johannesburg hospital after he was stopped in the 10th round by South African lightweight champion Khaya Busakwe in Midrand last Saturday.
And Blom’s hospitalisation followed just less than a month after Yanga Sigqibo was hospitalised following his 11th round stoppage loss to International Boxing Organisation (IBO) junior-bantamweight titlist Ricardo Malajika at the Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park.
“This cuts both ways. For me, it’s an issue that has to do with the level of competition. Number two, the level of awareness by the medical team,” Selepe said.
“I don’t know about the other provinces, Gauteng has had a lot of your premier tournaments where the competition for titles is high. However, every one boxer that we have to send to hospital is always concerning.”
Selepe has insisted that altitude might have had a hand in both Sigqibo and Blom ending up in hospital as they come from East London and Cape Town respectively.
“Our boxers who came to fight here came from the coast. You’ve got an element of altitude that can affect you,” Selepe remarked.
“Definitely, it’s concerning, but at the same time we are looking at boxers’ wellness in terms of preparations. There’s a lot of issues that are unknown to us as the medical commission.”
Selepe concluded: “The decision to send both boxers to hospital was ours. The recent one was quite bad. But the one at Emperor’s, we sent him to hospital because we wanted to be sure.” – Monwabisi Jimlongo
