By Malibongwe Bhido
Johannesburg – After a challenging 2020, KwaZulu-Natal Boxing South Africa (BSA) provincial manager Mike Dube hopes for a better year.
The province staged only two boxing tournaments before the coronavirus outbreak.
Boxing events, which were scheduled to take place in December after boxing was allowed, failed to see the light.
Among those tournaments was Moruti Mthalane’s homecoming IBF title defence and Ludonga Boxing Promotions’ show, which were postponed to today.
Meanwhile, the muchtalked- about Tono Promotions’ showpiece that featured Mthalane as the main attraction was cancelled after the promoter failed to meet Boxing SA’s basic requirements.
Another boxing-active province, which also experienced action drought, was the Eastern Cape.
All the tournaments that were supposed to take place in SA’s boxing mecca were cancelled due to the high number of Covid-19 infections in that province.
Four boxing feasts have been lined up for KwaZulu- Natal in the first quarter of the new year.
All these tournaments will be bankrolled by the KZN department o f sports, a rts and culture.
“We are really happy that the KZN provincial department of sports has given boxing a big boost by funding all these tournaments. It’s a lot of tournaments in a short period.
“If it wasn’t for Covid-19, local boxing fans would have been treated to a feast of activity,” said Dube.
“However, we hope to get through this period and return to normal times. We are in discussions with the department to support more tournaments this year. We are working to get more champions in the province.”
He said they had managed to convince the provincial government after a marathon of negotiations.
“It has been a long process and we also need to convince more corporates to get involved.”
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