Stop this farce and merge two divisions

ONCE upon a time heavyweight division was the epitome of SA boxing.

The glamour division which is widely seen as the face of boxing put this country on the world pedestal as it produced the best talent.

This even forced the oldest world body, the WBA to consider two SA boxers when it launched round-robin bouts to contest for its coveted title.

Two SA boxers Gerrie Coetzee and Kallie Knoetzee were selected to face their American counterparts John Tate and Mike Weaver with the remaining two meeting for the title.

Coetzee is particularly hailed as the best heavyweight ever produced in this country. The Boksburg Bomber held his own against the best in the world and after failed attempts to beat Tate and Weaver he finally laid his hands on the WBA crown by knocking out Michael Dokes for the highest honour in world boxing.

While his predecessors Johnny du Plooy and Pierre Coetzer paled in comparison they also did their bid to take up the baton. Fast forward to today with the heavyweight division now the poorest in the country.

This was displayed by the appalling contest between fat slob Osborne Machimana and one Justice Siliga.

The pair had no business competing in a boxing ring much less for the country’s heavyweight belt. Their farce signified the dearth of talent in the division and the sooner the authorities remedies this the better.

A hideously flabby Machimana, who once called Eyethu Boxing Club his training home, laboured to a points win to become yet again the national champion.

Displaying a waistline which would have made a sumo wrestler green with envy, Machimana once again ascended the throne which he had won so many other times not because of his talent but the lack thereof.

Machimana aptly nicknamed “Big Daddy” has been part-timing in the game as he only took bouts for an easy payday. This is displayed by his fight record which shows numerous losses in foreign countries where he has been used to pad resumés of their prospects. Seeing the lack of boxers in the heavyweight division why does not BSA simply combine it with the cruiserweight to facilitate activity?

It is time to save the once glamorous division.