League can only get better from hereon, vows Sanabo boss
SA NATIONAL Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) president Andile Mofu has promised a more exciting Open Boxing League (OBL) next season.
Mofu was talking about the finals of the inaugural event held at Mdantsane Indoor Centre last weekend. The league finally came to an end after it started on shaky grounds due to several delays which cast doubt on whether it would see the light of day.
The league, introduced to help amateur boxers to get activity to harness their readiness for international tournaments including International Amateur Boxing Associationchampionships, was scheduled to start in Port Elizabeth last month.
But after the local government elections which brought a change in municipal leadership, the league was moved to East London.
But yet again there were delays when then Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula could not find time to be present at its launch.
While this was unfolding further delays ensued when Mbalula was redeployed, leaving new Sports Minister Thulas Nxesi to take the reins.
After it was finally launched in Brakpan, Gauteng in June it was all systems go as Mdantsane was chosen as the first battleground of one of the two streams divided into the red and blue corners.
In the red corner Eastern Cape were pitted against Western Cape KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Northern Cape.
The blue corner had Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo. After 45 bouts squeezed into five weeks of action the Eastern Cape whose team competed under the Badgers moniker took the honours with 180 points followed by Killer Whales of KwaZuluNatal with 101 points.
In the blue corner, Workers Bees of Gauteng ruled the roost with 118 points after 45 bouts followed by Leopards of Limpopo with 69.
Mofu lauded the standard in the two streams although he did lament the inactivity of some provinces which impacted on their overall performance.
“This league is aimed at jacking up competition in the provinces and narrowing the gap so that we produce a formidable SA team overall,” he said.
“We are happy in that by entering the OBL some provinces eventually got their much-needed activity and that will bode well for the SA Team in general.”
The dominance of EC in boxing was evident when it outscored Gauteng in the finals last week to take the gold medal with 142 points.
Gauteng’s Workers Bees took the silver with 118 points while KZN won bronze with 101 points.
Mofu said Sanabo would hold a meeting to review the league and to prepare for the 2018 season.
EC Badgers’ Asanda Gingqi again thrilled the spectators with his sublime skills earning him the boxer of the season. The biggest shock was KZN for getting pipped by Gauteng to the second spot after the province had been challenging its neighbours in the Eastern Cape for amateur boxing supremacy.
Mofu said while Northern Cape came last the league offered its fighters much-needed activity which led to them improving with every phase. — Boxing Mecca