Ryno’s defining fight
BIG CLASH: LIEBENBERG HOPES TO SAVE HIS CAREER BY BEATING MUKALA
Super Four Series kicks off at Emperors with two bouts.
The boxing buzz this weekend is without doubt the inauguration of the Featherweight Super Four Series (S4) scheduled to be held at Emperors Palace tonight.
Four top featherweight boxers, Simpiwe Vetyeka, Azinga Fuzile, Tshifhiwa Munyai and Lerato Dlamini, will battle for supremacy in separate semifinals.
Vetyeka, 36, takes on the 23-year-old Dlamini in one bout while Fuzile, 21, will also test his skills against Munyai who is his senior by 11 years.
But somewhere tucked in between the series bouts is another clash which is being slept on by fans.
Veteran Ryno Liebenberg will attempt to resist being used as a stepping stone by upcoming DR Congo-born star Patrick Mukala in an international super-middleweight bout.
The unbeaten Mukala is the latest boxer from the Congolese boxing conveyor belt using the local boxing scene to advance their careers.
At just 23, Mukala, who is trained by former heavyweight boxer Ashley Fourie, already shows boxing prowess having knocked out all but one of his nine opponents so far.
He is hoping to make it big on the local boxing scene and follow in the footsteps of compatriots Ilunga Makabu, Zack Mwekassa and Paul Kamanga.
Fight promoter Rodney Berman is already seeing a star in the making in Mukala although he feels Liebenberg will be an acid test for him.
“The stakes are very high between the two fighters,” he said. “It is a perfect crossroads fight because it will indicate if Ryno can still cut it, while a Mukala win will usher in the emergence of a new star.”
Berman is already dangling a carrot for the winner in next year’s second edition of the S4 which will pit the winners against each other.
The S4 final will be held at the same venue next February and the winner between Liebenberg and Mukala will fight for the African Boxing Union title which will lead to a WBC rating.
Liebenberg is now 33 but he has not been in the game for long although he has already made his name internationally.
The former SA light heavyweight champion will drop down a division as he looks to bounce back to winning ways following a three-fight losing streak including back-to-back defeats by German Enrico Koelling.
Should Liebenberg lose he will likely be relegated to gatekeeper status.
As South Africans, we’re pretty much aware now that corporate governance isn’t particularly high on our public and private institutions’ agendas.
The mere mention of phrases like “treasury”, “McKinsey”, “Eskom”, “KPMG” and “T20 Global League” should make us depressed about ethics in SA.
However, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has another ace up it’s sleeve.
They actually make sure they repeat the governance mistakes of years past.
This week, the local federation announced they’ve launched a “broad scope” investigation into the organisational aspects that led to the postponement of the tournament. Now for the scary part. It seems CSA will conduct the investigation by themselves.
There wasn’t a single mention of “independent” in an official statement sent to the media.
Seven years ago, the CSA bonus scandal was raging.
Then CEO Gerald Majola and 40 other staff members were paid bonuses for the hosting of the 2009 IPL and ICC Champions Trophy to the tune of R4.7 million.
This was not approved by CSA’s remuneration committee.
President Mtutuzeli Nyoka smelt a rat and called for an independent investigation.
He was sidelined by the Majola sycophants, who kept it in-house.
Shamefully, but not surprisingly, Majola was cleared.
Nyoka was voted out, reinstated after a high court ruling and then left again.
Just when CSA seemed to be meandering towards unaccountability, the Sports Ministry called a commission of inquiry.
Majola was found to have contravened the Companies Act on four counts and was fired and CSA were restructured.
The baffling question is: why is the local federation going down this road again?
CSA could argue their new governing structure contains various independent board members. It’s a poor one. Those four – Norman Arendse, Vusi Pikoli, Dawn Mokhobo and Louis von Zeuner – couldn’t be bothered asking questions during the organising phase.
Telling us now that CSA “wasn’t fully appraised” cuts no ice.
Worst of all, Von Zeuner and acting chief Thabang Moroe were members of a sub-committee that acted between the CSA board and departed CEO Haroon Lorgat.
They surely can’t be trusted to conduct this investigation on their own.