There’s a serious disagreement between Kay B Promotions boss Mzi Booi and his KwaZulu-Natal-based counterpart Hlulukwenza Dladla over South African featherweight champion Zolisa Batyi’s next defence.
Central to the disagreement is a contract Booi sent to Dladla and boxer Lindelani Sibisi, who is rated number one, for a fight against Batyi. Team Sibisi never signed the contract for a fight which Booi has pencilled for the Orient Theatre in East London on Wednesday, 30 April next year.
“We started contract negotiations and a contract was sent to you for consideration. Numerous attempts were made to you for the finalisation of the negotiations and you requested more time. We gave you and your team a deadline of the end of business on the 18 December 2024,” Booi said in a letter he sent to Dladla and copied BSA director of operations Mandla Ntlanganiso on Thursday, 19 December.
“We did not get any response from you and/or Team Sibisi. Note that we have other obligations that we must fulfil. Your silence and lack of communication left us in limbo and we view your silence as unreasonable knowing the difficulties of organising a tournament.”
Booi added: “We have since decided to close these negotiations and advising that we are starting negotiations with the number two ranked boxer for our defence. We will advise Boxing South Africa accordingly of the developments.”
Meanwhile, Dladla has written to Ntlanganiso asking the boxing regulator to order a purse bid for the fight.
In his letter to BSA on Thursday, 19 December, Dladla said: “May we request that BSA consider ordering a purse bid for the bout between the two boxers. We are of the view that we have tried to procedurally comply with regulations to wait for the rightful opportunity for Lindelani Sibisi to get an opportunity to mandatory challenge the champion Batyi.”
Ink Sport has seen figures of a purse offer Dladla sent Batyi for a fight which he has scheduled for February next year. The purse is, however, less than what Batyi received in each of his last two fights. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
