It’s the Tete show at boxing awards
‘KO king’ wins boxer of the year, Nonina feted too
THE second edition of the national boxing awards have come and gone and left leaving some guests who crammed into the Boardwalk Casino in Port Elizabeth in disbelief.
While programme directors Putco Mafani and Kwena Moabelo kept guests on tenterhooks before revealing the winners of each of the 16 categories, those following proceedngs on television were equally baffled by some of the chosen winners.
By nature, deciding on who is the best in each category has never been child’s play and this scribe can attest to it, having once been a member of the adjudication committee that picked the winners.
While some arguments were valid, some people got carried away when their favourite boxers did not make it to the podium.
Others were simply ill-informed about why certain winners were selected, with some even going as far as accusing the committee of using the occasion to rectify the wrongs of last year’s awards in Durban.
As a committee member, the Dispatch will select a few contentious categories and explain why individuals were chosen as winners.
● Boxer of the year: Azinga Fuzile, Zolani Tete, Kevin Lerena and Thulani Mbenge.
Winner: Zolani Tete. Very few people will object to Tete being chosen as the winner in this category although other nominees were equally deserving. But the fact that Tete holds a major world title (the WBO bantamweight crown) and is universally recognised as the best in the world, should strengthen his case.
There were those who felt Fuzile should have taken it, but although he was more active in the period (between October 1 2016 to October 31 2017) his accomplishments do not come close to Tete’s. Good thing is Fuzile is still young and judging by his progress he will have an opportunity to bag this award.
● Female boxer of the year: Mapule Ngubane, Bukiwe Nonina, Noni Tenge.
Winner: Bukiwe Nonina. Again Nonina’s achievements were far superior to anything accomplished by her peers.
She stunned veteran German Alesia Graf of 34 bouts by beating her to win the WBF bantamweight title. Enough said.
● Male fight of the year. Gideon Buthelezi vs Angel Aviles, Mpho Seforo vs Thabang Ramagole, Zolani Tete vs Arthur Villanueva.
Winner Buthelezi vs Aviles. This is one category that left much to be desired.
All the nominees did not deserve to be there especially the Tete vs Villanueva fight which was so one-sided. Deciding on the fight of the year should take all aspects into consideration such as the magnitude of the fight, the skills of the boxers involved, their respective age etc.
This is one category that is crying out for the authorities to change the period under review because while some battles linger in the minds for a while some are easily overshadowed, not because they were not good, but they get wiped out from memory by the latest bouts.
For instance, Nkosinathi Joyi vs Simpiwe Konkco was an epic battle which everyone agreed would be difficult to beat.
There was also a clash for the SA junior bantamweight diadem between Lindile Tshemese and Athi Dumezweni which swung to and fro until it ended with a dramatic lastminute knockout.
Lee Dyer and Alfonso Tissen also waged a memorable war which ended in a draw but there were reports that it did not comply with Boxing SA regulations.
● Male prospect of the year: Sikho Nqothole,
Sitemele.
Winner: Lunga Sitemele.
This is one of the categories that consumed plenty of time, with the committee divided on Sitemela and Nkosi both of whom have seven fights apiece.
Nkosi has beaten quality opponents, including then unbeaten Joshua Studdard and Jeff Magagane twice but his one loss compared to the unbeaten record of Stimela swung matters against him.
● Matchmaker of the year: Rueben Rasodi, Abbey Mnisi, Luyanda Kana.
Winner. Luyanda Kana.
Kana missed out on the award last year in highly controversial circumstances when Rasodi was the recipient.
Again Kana was tipped to fall in favour of Mnisi who was said to have match-made many tournaments. But when the stats of the two gentlemen were presented to the committee it transpired that Kana had done more tournaments.
Those who are questioning Kana’s selection need to take a chill pill and congratulate him because he deserves the accolade and it had nothing to do with correcting last year’s proceedings.
Sometimes a little research helps before coming to conclusions.
● Promoter of the year. Lebo Mahoko, Ayanda Matit, Steve Kalakoda.
Winner. Ayanda Matiti. There was no competition in this category as Matiti organised far more superior tournaments in different provinces of the country than his peers.
● Media award: Christo Smith, Sterra Ngqezana, James Gradidge. Winner: James Gradidge.
I will admit that I was also taken by surprise by the winner of this categories.
My mind was on Ngqezana but when other committee members gave motivation for other nominees I surrendered simply because I had no idea what work Gradidge does.
Other winners were simply straight forward but surprisingly some detractors painted the entire awards with the same muddy brush without arguing their cases. Ayanda Nkosi, Lunga