Boxing South Africa calls for the scraping-off of archaic laws relating to boxing
MELROSE ESTATE -– Boxing South Africa has appealed to the government to re-look legislation relating to the sport of boxing.
Boxing South Africa (BSA) has appealed to the government for an urgent review of some of its archaic laws which it believes stands in the way of the advancement of the sport.
The call was made at a press briefing at Olympic House in Melrose Estate after a meeting of BSA to discuss their strategy going into the new financial year.
The board chairperson of BSA Dr Malefetsane Ngatane said there was an urgent need to change certain legislations governing boxing to bring it in line with global trends and the modern day sport of boxing.
Ngatane cited one such law which forbade a boxer from holding dual licences as a boxer and a promoter.
“This tends to strangle much needed financial investment into the sport by boxers that have made money in the sport and would inject it back into the sport as promoters as well,” he said.
“In this country, a boxer has to wait for retirement before considering options to become an investor while other countries’ boxers can become promoters… and some of them have gone on to become successful promoters that have even promoted their own fights.
“We have a number of current boxers that want to venture into the sphere of promoting fights but are hindered by this legal standing disallowing them from holding two concurrent licences, and we think it’s about time this was scrapped to open up the much needed financial injection in the sport.”
He gave the example of Floyd Mayweather who had started promoting fights when he was still boxing and had promoted his own fights.
Ngatane’s call was echoed by the CEO of BSA Tsholofelo Lejaka who said there was a lot of money that could be invested back into the sport by current boxers if this section of the legislation was done away with.
“We know the wheels of changing laws grind slowly but we’re confident that the powers that be can also see what we’re seeing and that eventually, we shall be on the same wavelength on this matter. This can only be good for the sport of boxing once it’s scrapped,” Lejaka said.
