Boxing promoters in verbal slugfest over award
EACH of the three nominees for Boxing SA’s 2016 Most Promising Promoter of the Year award is brimming with confidence to lift the “Oscar” at the ceremony on January 27.
The three nominees are Lebo Mahoko of Dream Team Gym, Thembalethu Ntuthu who trades under the banner of Rumble Africa and Sandile Xaka of Supreme Boxing promotions.
Mahoko is based in Free State, Ntuthu stays in East London, while Xaka hails from Butterworth, Eastern Cape but is based in Johannesburg.
They were nominated by the public, as per BSA’s rule book.
Said Mahoko: “I don’t mean to disrespect other competitors, but the award is mine. I spent a lot of time as a development promoter since 2006. So when the time came for me to take it to a higher level, it was easy. I had all the basics which includes marketing because much as boxing is a sport it is also business.
“Free State was like Kimberley, Mpumalanga and the North West which are not prominent in boxing but I have resuscitated it while taking the sport to another level.”
Ntuthu, a heavyweight politician who ventured into boxing in 2014, said: “I think I am taking the award because I have been successful in unearthing talent through my development tournaments. Recently crowned SA and WBC youth featherweight champ [Azinga Fuzile] rose through us and we will take him and other boxers where they intend to be as fighters.”
Xaka, meanwhile, presented himself as a promoter with an impressive development tournament in Randburg on July 31. “The award is mine,” he said. “My tournaments thrilled fans because all boxers performed to the maximum. I am actually humbled by the nomination – it says I must work harder going forward.”