Lehlohonolo Ramagole, Gauteng Provincial Manager for Boxing South Africa, emphasises the country’s readiness to host more world-class boxing events by partnering with promoters and sponsors. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL
Image: Michael Sherman/IOL
Gauteng Provincial Manager for Boxing South Africa (BSA), Lehlohonolo ‘Hloks’ Ramagole, believes South Africa is ready to host more world-class boxing events.
Much like ‘The Reckoning’, which was held at the Sunbet Arena in Pretoria a year ago, saw Kevin Lerena defend his WBC bridgerweight title against Ukrainian Serhiy Radchenko, Boxing SA is ready to do it all again.
In the meantime, though, events like Knockout Chaos with Aquila Boxing Promotions (ABP) are where Boxing SA is attempting to unearth new generations of talent.
In an exclusive interview with IOL, Ramagole discussed how hosting top boxing events works in the country.
“Firstly, because BSA on its own is a regulator, it cannot host; it means obviously we need to partner with promoters,” said Ramagole.
“Now, obviously we'll need promoters that partner with beautiful sponsors. An example like Kevin Lerena, so that we can come and bring our A-games in terms of regulation, in terms of officiating. We want to be rolling out the officiating training so that we match the standard of international powers.
“But we've been hosting the international bouts. We've had the WBC tournament where Kevin Lerena defended his WBC, which is not even arguably the best in the world that we have so far.”
“We were able to host that at Sun Arena and sold out. I think we had a capacity that was more than 7,000. It's something that has never happened. So we are capable. It's just a matter of us coming together, putting our hands together, and all being professional.”
Besides ABP, Ramagole said BSA worked with a number of boxing promotions companies.
“At Boxing SA, we've got a lot lined up. We've got obviously your veteran legend, the Golden Gloves promotion, run by Mr Rodney Berman. We have Warrior Ascent, which has also given us a lot of fights last year. Very professional as well.
“We've got VIP promotion that gave us the women in boxing tournament, which was very flavourful. It set a very big standard. It was attended by big guests. There are a lot of promotions we've got in Gauteng.
“We've got Boxing5 that just hosted the heavyweight title between Chris Thompson versus Shaun Potgieter. So there are a couple of big promotions in the province.”