An America boxer and a well-known Mexican official slept on benches in a hotel during the build-up to the Durban fiasco that saw a tournament, already delayed twice, cancelled at the 11th hour on Thursday night.
What had been billed as an extravaganza at Moses Mabhida stadium, with Zulu King Misuzulu and American superstar Floyd Mayweather to be in attendance, instead fizzled out without a punch in a royal embarrassment for boxing in South Africa.
Nancy Rodriguez, a top official who accompanied female fighter Maricela Cornejo of the US as her manager, said the two of them spent a few nights sleeping on a bench because of an inept member of the promotional company, J4Joy.
“Three days she [Cornejo] and I slept in a hotel in the airport on the benches,” Rodriguez was heard saying in a video recording of a meeting with fight officials, Boxing South Africa (BSA) employees, boxers, managers and J4Joy personnel.
The recording was posted on Instagram by Rodriquez, who spent a few days in Johannesburg with Cornejo before they went to Durban. “She’s going to fight and she’s sleeping on the bench of a hotel and they said ‘hey, no sleeping here’. Why? Because Sipho [Mashego] wouldn’t pick up our calls.”
A request for comment from Mashego, involved in the promotion, was met with a WhatsApp from a J4Joy spokesperson: “I have been advised that for now J4Joy is dealing with matters privately as most speculation on the media are false. However when I get a statement I will share it with you.”
J4Joy chairman Jacob Mnisi did not respond to questions and the CEO, Arnold Nododile, when asked about Mayweather threatening legal action for breach of contract, including non-payment, replied 24 hours later with a link to a SowetanLIVE report saying the tournament had been approved by King Misuzulu.
BSA also failed to respond to 13 questions, but issued a brief statement apologising to the king and saying it had started an investigation into allegations around the promoter. But several observers have told the Sunday Times they believe BSA failed in its duty as regulator.
In the recording Mnisi can be heard assuring boxers, managers and officials that everyone would be paid by the end of Friday (December 23).
One of the many regulations that BSA is supposed to enforce is promoters paying all purse money to them before the tournament, but this was clearly not done.
BSA director of operations Mandla Ntlanganiso can be heard saying in the recording: “We were comfortable that this tournament was going to continue. We wanted this tournament to continue because there were good intentions around this tournament.”
Mnisi blamed the collapse on sabotage. “It’s something that’s been done by outside people, I don’t want to mention names but we know what’s happening …
“They knew we are not able to do it alone from our pocket [as] we rely on sponsorships. They issue public statements that anger people who have already agreed to sponsor our tournament,” he claimed, adding he had wanted to postpone the tournament earlier, but it was too far along.
This was arguably South African boxing’s most embarrassing debacle since the cancelled fight of Laila Ali, the daughter of heavyweight legend Muhammad Ali, in 2006.
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