Even though he has no problem with Siyabulela Hem defending his South African junior-featherweight title in a rematch against Bongani Mahlangu, boxing trainer Alan Toweel feels hard done as his boxer Vusumuzi Ngcamu had signed to face off against the Duncan Village-based champion.
Last month Ngcamu was approached by Hem’s handlers for an opportunity to challenge the SA champion. He even signed and returned the fight contract to Hem’s handlers.
However, things changed when Mahlangu won an appeal against his September loss to Hem as independent judges, who reviewed his fight, felt that he had done enough to win it. Then Boxing South Africa (BSA) ordered a rematch between him and Hem with the fight now scheduled for the Orient Theatre in East London on Saturday, 14 December.
“We signed a contract to fight for the SA title. We signed the contract on the 17th of October. I think there’s a bit of unfairness now, especially when no one told us about the latest developments,” Toweel said.
“We only learnt through the media that Hem was going to fight against Mahlangu. We also learnt after calling BSA and they confirmed that our signed contract was never sent to them and that there was no tournament on the 24th of November. This is very unfair to my boxer. The promoter never even called to inform us about the changes.”
Toweel added: “Surely, there should be some recourse for my boxer. I’ve accepted that Mahlangu has won his appeal and will fight Hem again. All I’m asking for is for ny fighter to be given an opportunity to fight the winner between Hem and Mahlangu.
“I spoke to the matchmaker Jazz (Lwandile Ntsito) and he passed me on to Linda Saliwa who promised to come back to me. I’m still waiting for him to come back to me. For the record, I have no problem with Hem fighting against Mahlangu. It’s just that I feel the winner must face my boy. We incurred some serious expenses when we were preparing to fight Hem. I’m just asking for my boxer to be given a chance to fight the winner between between Hem and Mahlangu.”
Contacted for comment, Saliwa said: “Yes, we signed to defend against Ngcamu after the number one rated boxer was unavailable. We have since taken orders from BSA thus Hem is defending against Mahlangu.” – Monwabisi Jimlongo
