Rodney Berman
Seeing all this piffle about “bringing back boxing’s glory days”, I’m forced to borrow a line from tennis great John McEnroe.
Are you serious?!
Every Johnny-come-lately who rides into town to “rescue” SA boxing trots out the line about the glory days.
Frankly, it’s an insult to the fighters, to broadcasters like SuperSport and to Emperors Palace, the Caesars Palace of South Africa, not to speak of other promoters who have long done good work.
The “glory days” were when Vuyani Bungu, Gerrie Coetzee, Brian Mitchell and others were active, but it’s also true that the glory days are now with Zolani Tete, Kevin Lerena, Thulane Mbenge, Hekkie Budler and Moruti Mthalane.
You’d have to be blind not to recognise this.
In recent years we’ve had tremendous fights featuring SA boxers with broadcast standards the match of anyone in the world. We no longer have stadium fights, but the world has evolved and instead we have smaller shows far more often than in the past. Don’t forget, too, that we now have a unified South Africa – some of those “glory days” occurred during the apartheid years. No-one wants to go back to that time!
There is talent everywhere. The Eastern Cape remains a hotbed and we routinely see SA boxers involved in major international fights.
The trouble with harking back to the distant past is that you’re in danger of failing to enjoy what’s in front of you.
So, don’t believe the hype! The glory days are NOW.
