There are plans to make sure that Mpumelelo Tshabalala and his team leave South Africa for Mexico on Sunday evening after they were turned away at the OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park on Saturday evening.
With their bags already packed for Mexico, Tshabalala together with his trainers Thami and Peter as well as his manager Vusi Malinga couldn’t travel to the Central American country due to United Kingdom transit visa challenges.
Tshabalala is scheduled to trade punches with Mexican boxer Sergio Alfonso Mendoza Cordova in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-flyweight elimination bout in Hermosillo, Mexico, on Saturday, 22 November (Sunday, 23 November, South African time).
“We went to the airport on Saturday evening, but we couldn’t travel after we were told that we didn’t have United Kingdom transit visas,” Thami Malinga told Ink Sport.
“We hope to leave on Sunday evening otherwise the fight will be off should we fail to do so. And that will be very bad because the boy is ready for this fight.”
NO DOUBT Management’s Colin ‘Nomakanjani’ Nathan, who manages Tshabalala, said: “What happened shocked me as well. This was an honest error and we really didn’t know that transit visas were needed. We are trying our best to make sure that they leave on Sunday evening.”
Meanwhile, a winner of the fight between Tshabalala and Cordova will get an opportunity to challenge reigning IBF champion Thanongsak Simsri from Thailand.
Tshabalala, who has 11 wins with five knockouts and a loss, is rated number four by the IBF and is sixth in the World Boxing Council (WBC) ratings. Rated third by the IBF, Cordova has won all his 26 fights with 22 of his victims failing to reach the distance. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
