Following an uproar over the outcome of the fight, which was won by Limpopo boxer Akani Sambu against Sabelo Cebekhulu at the Khoroni Hotel Casino in Thohoyandou on Friday, World Boxing Federation (WBF) president Howard Goldberg has revealed that the bout is going to be reviewed. 

Two judges from Limpopo – Mike Phiri and Gezani Hlungwani – scored the fight in favour of Sambu retaining the WBF Intercontinental bantamweight title with their scorecards reading 95-93 and 97-91 respectively while Pumeza Zinakile had Cebekhulu winning by 95-93. 

“We are going to give the fight to a European official to have a look at it. We will allow a rematch after that. I must say that that was a good fight where Sambu fought well in the first few rounds and then Cebekhulu came back stronger,” Goldberg, a former ring official, said. 

Earlier last week there were doubts about the fight taking place after Mama Rocks Boxing Promotions boss Modipadi Kgasago failed to pay a sanctioning fee to the WBF on time. 

The sanctioning fee was only paid less than an hour before the official weigh-in on Thursday after Goldberg had threatened to cancel the bout. 

For the umpteenth time, ring officials were subjected to an unfortunate treatment at the tournament. Fight officials slept at the Meropa Casino Sun foyer after they had officiated at a Mama Rocks Boxing Promotions tournament in Polokwane in September 2023. 

And a similar incident occurred last Friday as ring officials, who had travelled from Johannesburg got ‘stranded’ as they didn’t have rooms to freshen up and sleep over in Thohoyandou. 

And Limpopo boxing promoter Phathutshedzo Dongola, who is Kgasago’s husband, stands accused of ill-treating the officials. Fight officials who spoke to Ink Sport have accused Dongola of failing to organise accomodation, transport and meals for them as per the rules. 

A stand-off between the officials and Dongola, who is from Nzhelele in the Vhembe District, nearly resulted in the tournament not taking place as the judges and referees were demanding to be given accommodation before proceeding to officiate at the show, which started more than two hours after schedule. 

“The rules are clear, a promoter must secure transport and accommodation for ring officials plus two meals a day. The hotel must be of reasonable standing. We are going to look at what happened there,” Goldberg said. 

Dongola passed the buck when Ink Sport sought a comment from him regarding the treatment of ring officials. – Monwabisi Jimlongo 

2 thought on “WBF TO LOOK INTO SAMBU, CEBEKHULU FIGHT AND TREATMENT OF OFFICIALS”
  1. I m happy about what I read about Ring 💍 treatment, That’s is norm of bad treatment of official s Rules stated clear, about accodation, Transport, of official s to Andrew from tournaments

  2. This is a serious transgression of the rules & regulations. The regulatory body needs to seriously look into the matter to save the image of the fistic sport.

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