Anti-doping body to probe Jantjies boxing bout

Anti-doping officials are to investigate last weekend’s charity boxing bout featuring Elton Jantjies, the former Springbok who is serving a four-year suspension for a banned substance.

Jantjies, who tested positive for Clenbuterol last year, took on fellow ex-Bok Lionel Mapoe on a mixed martial arts (MMA) card in Durban, fighting in a cage wearing MMA gloves and being refereed by the president of MMA South Africa (MMA SA), Ferdinand Basson, who wore a shirt featuring the logo of his federation, which sanctioned the tournament.

Doping bans forbid suspended sports people from participating in any activity organised by any sporting code that adheres to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) regulations that are enforced locally by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids).

Saids CEO Khalid Galant said his organisation was “obligated to investigate”.

MMA SA, responding to the Sunday Times through a lawyer, insisted it was above board.  “His [Jantjies] participation in this charity event, where the ‘winner’ was selected by the crowd and no judges were involved, in no way violated any laws or regulations — it can in no way be seen as a sanctioned fight.”

MMA SA added the bout was conducted “with the utmost regard for safety”.

“Both athletes received proper training under professional boxing coaches and agreed to participate for the purposes of entertaining the crowd.”

Whether that will satisfy Saids remains to be seen as suspended athletes are not allowed to train in official environments.

A breach of anti-doping rules isn’t the only potential problem facing MMA SA and Jantjies — white collar boxing has been ruled unlawful in this country, meaning organisers and participants could face criminal prosecution.

MMA SA described the bout as a “sparring match” and “entertainment-focused”.

But acting judge Andries le Grange, who made the ruling in the so-called Tikbox case in December last year, dismissed the notion of friendly contests in the ring. “This court can, however, hardly … imagine an instance where any boxing contest can be regarded as a friendly contest not calculated to produce injury to either party. This due to the inherent and imminent risk and nature of the sport ... and maybe also due to the nature of man to summarily alter his intention and defend his body and/or honour once it is really at stake, especially after a good punch or two.”

Local professional boxing is governed by an act of parliament and amateur boxing operates under rules approved by the International Olympic Committee.

MMA SA, which has helped to establish bare knuckle combat in the country, operates in a similar way to amateur boxing, depending on the rules of an international body. Its lawyer said the federation was due to hold its first AGM on December 30, more than two years since it was placed under administration by umbrella body, Martial Arts South Africa.

A leading legal expert on combat sports, Dr Gerald Ramsden, said the combat sports industry in South Africa was in dire need of a complete legal overhaul to ensure all combat sports were lawfully conducted and properly regulated. “At the moment it’s basically a free for all, which is concerning because these sports expose the fighters to the risk of serious injury and even death,” he said, proposing a statutory combat sports authority to regulate all the different combat codes.

Ramsden warned that participants of unlawful combat sports were not only open to criminal prosecution and civil suits for injury and death, but that fighters injured or killed could lose their claims to benefits like medical aid, disability insurance and life assurance.

A Combat Sport Bill was first initiated around 2012, but was put on ice as the sports, arts and culture department prioritised other sports legislation, like the National Sport and Recreation Act and the Saids Act.