Golden Gloves Promotions keep boxing alive
Boxing in South Africa is at its lowest ebb since the Second World War with fewer tournaments and less active fighters due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
To date there have only been 20 tournaments in South Africa and 269 active fighters with 213 of those being from South Africa, as advised by Andre de Vries of Boxing SA.
These are alarming statistics with a lot of South African fighters being on the breadline.
However, Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves Promotions whose first venture into professional boxing took place on 29 August 1977 when Charlie Weir knocked out Bushy Bester in the first round at the Wembley Ice Rink in Turfontein, continues to produce quality tournaments.
His next tournament named “Triple Threat” with two South African title fights takes place at Emperors Palace near Kempton Park on Saturday, 25 September and will be televised live on SuperSport.
In the main event Simon Dladla 6-1; 5 defends his South African junior middleweight title against the No 3 listed challenger Shervantaight Koopman 7-0; 5. Both fighters are big punchers, and this could develop into an exciting slugfest.
The second South African title fight on the bill is between No 1 rated Frank Rodrigues 7-3; 4 and Cowin Ray 6-0; 4, who is listed at No 3, for the vacant South African super middleweight title.
On the undercard in a heavyweight bout scheduled for six rounds Wilhelm Nebe 5-0; 4 goes in against Josh Pretorius 7-5; 5, who in his most recent fight lost on points against Tian Fick in a clash for the vacant South African heavyweight title.
In an eight-round junior bantamweight bout Ricardo Malijika 7-1; 5 hopes to get his career back on track after coming off a loss when he goes in against Khaylethu Mbedie 2-5-1; 1.
Other bouts on the card are: Junior welterweight-4 rounds, Xolani Selimane v Nthethelelo Nkosi; Middleweight – 4 rounds, – Thando Mali v Phikelani Terence Khumalo.; Catchweight at 54.5kg – Juan Croukamp v Jono Grose.
The tournament starts at 3pm.