Given a choice, wily boxing trainer Bernie Pailman, who is hopping mad after his boxer Jeff Magagane lost by a split decision to Bongani Fule at the Guild Theatre on Sunday, would never bring his boxers to fight in East London ever again.
Pailman is furious as he strongly believes that Magagane’s loss was more like a highway robbery. The former South African featherweight champion took the Makhanda boxer to deep waters over 10 rounds and there were moments when it looked like the lanky Magagane might stop Fule during the fight.
“I’m still angry, I really can’t get over that decision. I watched the fight four times last night and I’m still convinced that my boxer was robbed. What happened put me off in as far as bringing boxers to East London is concerned,” Pailman said.
“This is so bad for boxing. I really feel very bad for the sport. Why did it take so long to tally the scorecards? I knew something was brewing when we waited longer for the scorecards. I’m really not happy that Jeff was robbed after putting up a very good performance. Something needs to be done about Eastern Cape fight officials.”
Pailman, who is the chief trainer at Westside Boxing Academy in Westbury, Johannesburg, added that they are not interested in applying for the review of the fight.
“I’m not gonna spend R2000 on the reviewing of the fight because Fule won’t agree on a rematch even if it’s ordered by Boxing South Africa (BSA). We had a flat out two and a half months camp preparing for this fight, only to be robbed by the ring officials,” Pailman remarked. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
