Ref blasted for denying Ndombassy a victory

Furious boxing licensees have called for Roarke Knapp to relinquish the WBA Pan African middleweight boxing belt after controversial officiating in his fight against Cristiano Ndombassy on Saturday night.

Some have deemed Knapp's “win” a gift from WBA's representative Stanley Christodoulou and referee Tony Nyangiwe, who failed to stop the fight after Ndombassy, the Cape Town-based Angolan, had sent Knapp tumbling three times.

SuperSport televised the fight live at Emperors Palace where SA boxing suffered a black eye when Nyangiwe flagrantly disregarded boxing rules and instead used he appeared to have been geared towards protecting Knapp at all costs.

Knapp got dropped three times in round three and according to the rules, that should have guaranteed an immediate win for Ndombassy. But Nyangiwe was found wanting when he was required to stop the fight and raise the arms of Ndombassy as the new WBA Pan African champion. That was dictated by the three knock-down rule that was communicated during the rules meeting on Friday.

An aggrieved Ndombassy quit in the fifth round. The Angolan, whose career is guided in Cape Town by veteran trainer Emile Brice, said: “I already knocked him out in the third. They were going to rob me no matter what I did so I decided if they want him to win so badly, let him win.”

Brice is pursuing the legal route.

Christodoulou should have overruled Nyangiwe and stopped the fight.

Licensees are annoyed and have called on Boxing SA to suspend Nyangiwe’s licence. They say since BSA can’t do anything to Christodoulou because he is not licensed by the local governing body, there must be a boycott of any boxing tournament that features Christodoulou’s less prestigious titles.

The WBA, whose headquarters are in Panama, must reverse the result and award the belt to Ndombassy. It is disturbing that 24 hours after such dreadful conduct, Golden Gloves, which staged the fight, had not publicly condemned the incident.

What Nyangiwe did brought back memories of Alfred Buqwana, whose conduct during the SA welterweight title fight between holder Harold Volbrecht and Arthur Mayisela made him infamous.

That fight at Sun City in 1986 ended controversially.

Buqwana's cardinal sin was calling it a technical draw – a decision that had never been given, even internationally. He told this writer during one of his many interviews that Christodoulou told him to call it that way.

Volbrecht and Mayisela clashed heads accidentally in round four. Boxing board doctor Joe Jivhuho inspected the wound and advised that the fight be stopped because blood blocked Volbrecht’s view. Buqwana – instead of being firm as the sole arbiter – consulted Christodoulou and the rest was history. Mayisela lost out on the title.