WBF boss Goldberg parries Ngatane jabs

WBF president Howard Goldberg has come out guns blazing in responding to comments by Boxing SA’s Peter Ngatane about the supposed dubious criteria used by the WBF and WBA when appointing fighters for their title fights in South Africa.

Sowetan mentioned the WBA Pan African light heavyweight championship between Thomas Oosthuizen and Daniel Bruwer, which took place last Saturday as a prime example.

Bruwer had not fought since 2014, but the WBA Championship Committee approved him for its title when Bruwer had not redeemed himself following his knockout loss.

Oosthuizen put him down three times, before the bout was stopped in the ninth round.

In his response Ngatane – speaking in his capacity as a member of the board of BSA – said they took a decision that some of the world sanctioning bodies are to be graded.

Ngatane – a representative of the WBC – said BSA must have a say in the sanctioning of bouts since they take place in its territory.

But Goldberg said: “Look, I don’t have a beef with Dr Ngatane but he should be completely unbiased as a BSA official.

“He is a representative of the WBC. This is the same organisation that has created a multitude of utterly meaningless titles [silver belts, emeritus belts, diamond belts, youth belts, Francophone belts, to name just the most crazy ones], and issues interim and silver version of each.

“It allows veterans to contest youth titles or makes a mockery of regional titles by permitting them to be contested by fighters hailing from other parts of the world. This being in stark contrast to the WBF consciously limiting its titles.

“Maybe it’s a good idea for Dr Ngatane to first clean up the mess at his own organisation.”

The Cape Town-based Goldberg added: “We felt that the upand-coming Bongani Mlotshwa needed to be tested by the experienced Johannes Pieterson.

”Yes, Pieterson was knocked out cold by one of the finest right hooks thrown in a South African ring in many years. But this knockout occurred in the 10th round at a time the fight was even on points.”