By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Another member of the Boxing South Africa (BSA) ratings committee has resigned following in the footsteps of Andre de Vries, who quit on Monday last week.
Ink Sport can reveal that Thabo Tutu from Cape Town has also thrown in the proverbial towel following the BSA board’s decision to question the rating committee members’ competence in rating boxers after they didn’t rate Sifiso Hlongwane in the junior-lightweight division.
Contacted for comment, Tutu said: “Yes, I can confirm that I have resigned. I have sent a resignation to the board chairperson.”
The BSA board vetoed the sanctioning committee’s decision not to sanction Hlongwane’s fight against Asanda Gingqi in a vacant SA junior-lightweight title contest at the Orlando Community Hall in Soweto more than a week ago. The sanctioning committee refused to sanction the fight as an SA title contest because Hlongwane is not rated in the junior-lightweight division.
The ratings committee had argued that Hlongwane’s last opponent Ripfumo Shikwambane had lost seven fights in a row. And also his previous opponent Tamiwe Chisolola from Zimbabwe was stopped in all his three fights here in South Africa.
De Vries said in a letter to BSA board chairperson Luthando Jack last week: “Please accept this as notice of my resignation from the BSA ratings committee. This has come about the unprecedented sanction of a non-rated boxer’s challenge for a South African boxing title. Sanctioning this fight is an affront to ratings committee and makes a mockery of the ratings and the time and effort that goes into compiling the. My service will end with the ratings published at the end of September 2023.”
