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Johannesburg - After failing to stage its first tournament early last month as promised, the newly established TLB Boxing Promotions has promised to rectify its mistake next month.
The company is the brainchild of former world champions Dingaan Thobela, Lehlohonolo Ledwaba and Jan Bergman.
They say their upcoming event will feature Moruti “Baby Face” Mthalane, Malcolm Klassen and Tshifhiwa “Atomic Spider” Munyai as the main attractions.
Something to cheer about
Mthalane holds the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight crown; Klassen is the former International Boxing Organisation (IBO) super featherweight champion and Munyai campaigns in the featherweight class.
TLB – which stands for Thobela, Ledwaba and Bergman – was launched in October to great fanfare.
The company’s first event had been scheduled to take place at the Carousel Resort in Hammanskraal in Gauteng on December 8, but it didn’t materialise.
The main fight was supposed to be the national super lightweight title bout between Xolani Mcotheli and Michael Mokoena.
Thobela blamed the no-show on poor planning and said he and the other TLB promoters were confident that they would give boxing fans something to cheer about this time around.
“One of the issues that contributed to the December event not going ahead was that we tried unsuccessfully to get boxers on our bill as many of them are contracted to their promoters,” said Thobela.
He also cited lack of funding as another reason for the event failing to get off the ground.
Overseas opponents
“Two companies – one from Gauteng and another from North West – had initially promised to sponsor the tournament, but withdrew at the last minute".
However, he added that he was confident that the organisation would successfully pull off the upcoming event.
“We have learnt from our mistakes and now have lots of time to organise things".
Ledwaba said the date for the fight and who the trio would fight would be announced soon.
“The three will be matched against overseas opponents. We want to make the event a success and cheer the fans up in the new year,” said Ledwaba.
