As the two top contenders, Sibusiso Zingange and Aphiwe Boyiya, have turned their backs on the vacant South African junior-welterweight title, Boxing South Africa (BSA) has been forced to look into the matter during a meeting on Thursday.
The SA junior-welterweight title became vacant after former champion Ntethelelo Nkosi relinquished it in March last year as he was chasing glory in the WBC Grand Prix in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“We are meeting with the sanctioning committee tomorrow and this will be part of the discussions. We will be dealing with the status of all divisions,” a BSA statement said on Wednesday.
Initially, Kay B Promotions boss Mzi Booi had lined up Boyiya and Sipho Mahlangu for the vacant title fight in May last year. However, the fight never took place after Zingange’s handlers put a spanner in the works.
Thereafter, Zingange’s camp signed for a fight against Boyiya. And still, that fight never materialised owing to continuous postponements.
That left both Zingange and Boyiya with no choice, but to go seek fights elsewhere. Zingange is now scheduled to face off against Malawian boxer Hannock Phiri in an international junior-welterweight fight over 10 rounds at the Silver Lakes Farm in Pretoria on Saturday, 28 February.
On the other hand, Boyiya has a date with Kutlwano Ogaketse in a vacant International Boxing Organisation (IBO) All-Africa junior-welterweight title contest at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC), Botswana, on Friday, 1 May. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
