RENEWING TRADITION
Boxing champions to receive belts from BSA
Practice renewed after complaints following loss of sponsor Old Buck
National and former champions will finally receive their long-awaited belts after Boxing SA renewed the awarding of belts to boxers who have made the required number of defences.
Among those who will finally get their belts are Eastern Cape female boxers Nozipho Bell of Port Elizabeth, Noxolo Makhanavu of Scenery Park in East London and Bukiwe Nonina of Dutywa, who is now based in Limpopo.
The trio made three title defences in accordance with the requirements. Male boxers must make five defences before they can be given title belts.
Bell defended her SA junior lightweight title three times; Makhanuvu did likewise for her SA flyweight crown.
Nonina defended her SA bantamweight belt five times.
BSA acting CEO Cindy Nkomo confirmed that Makhanavu and Bell would receive their belts after the verification process had been conducted by the regulatory body.
I think Makhanavu has already submitted her verification documents so it is left to us to ensure that they are in order,” she said.
The process is geared to restoring prestige to national titles after the withdrawal of Old Buck gin makers which used to sponsor SA title belts.
Since the withdrawal, BSA has struggled to find a replacement sponsor.
The structure now has just one belt per province for marketing purposes.
After the award, the belt will be taken back and kept at the BSA provincial office.
There were also complaints about the poor standard of the belts, as some were said to be peeling.
Nkomo confirmed that after the withdrawal of Old Buck, BSA had struggled to manufacture quality belts.
This is why we decided to “have one belt per province because manufacturing costs were a challenge.”
However BSA has since been inundated by complaints and requests from boxers who wanted their belts after meeting the mandatory number of title defences.
We started to receive complaints in the early 2000s but after long discussions we decided to find a way of handling this,” she said.
She could not say if world champions would also get national belts as was the norm during the days of Old Buck.
SA boxers who made their mark at international level used to be awarded national belts to recognise their contribution to national boxing.
Right now we are still dealing “with giving belts to those we owed. We have not thought deeper about other issues.”
Boxers who are owed belts can approach BSA or go to its website to fill in the required form.
Nkomo said the process would close on November 30 after which the manufacturing of the belts would begin.