Boxing body 'will kill sport'

SOONER or later, the Eastern Cape government will stop funding boxing because of the negative publicity generated by Boxing SA's attitude, promoter Andile Sdinile warns.

The East London-based former BSA board member was commenting on a statement by BSA following a meeting with promoters in Gauteng last weekend.

The board said it would not ease its requirements for the deposit of purse monies regardless of the backers or sponsors of tournaments.

If the Eastern Cape government decided to wave boxing goodbye, Sdinile said, this province – the busiest in that sport – would suffer the same fate as other provinces that have hardly any tournaments due to lack of funding.

The statement, signed by BSA chairman Ntambi Ravele, reads: "A government or sponsorship guarantee is not sufficient for BSA to issue a sanctioning letter. Often there are delays in payments from sponsors. It would be dangerous for BSA to issue a sanctioning letter on the basis of a guarantee, as BSA will be held accountable for the payment of boxers' purse monies should a tournament go ahead without the sponsors' money having been paid."

Recently BSA was involved in two court cases with East London promoters who had both had government funding. The courts overturned BSA's decisions to cancel the tournaments over compliance issues.

Sdinile, secretary of the Eastern Cape Promoters Association, said BSA had funding from the government and knew how the government operated.

Saying the board had misinterpreted the controlling legislation, he said: "Boxing will not get a single sponsor with this attitude." - Bongani Magasela