EDITORIAL | Make a plan to get amateur boxing out of the doldrums

South Africa’s swimmers delivered their best Commonwealth Games performance in Glasgow this week, ending with 22 medals.

On the other side of the spectrum, we had a boxing team that matched its worst-ever performance with Delhi 2010 — four boxers, four fights, zero wins.

It would be easy to dismiss this as a marginal sport, but boxing was once South Africa’s richest source of Olympic silverware.

From 1920 to 1960 boxers won 19 medals to establish the sport as the country’s most successful, sitting above athletics and swimming.

But since readmission, boxers have won no Olympic silverware, in fact, no boxer has won more than one fight at the Olympics.

The standard at the Commonwealth Games is lower than the Olympics, with no participants from Eastern Europe, Cuba and the US.

In a country where boxing is popular, especially among impoverished youth who see the sport as a way out of poverty, South Africa’s performance in Glasgow is nothing short of scandalous.

Since readmission, South Africa has won nine boxing medals across nine Commonwealth Games, while at the six showpieces before isolation, from 1930 to 1958, the country’s boxers amassed 28 medals, 17 of them gold. In that period South Africa topped the Games boxing medal table three times and finished second three times.

In a country where boxing is popular, especially among impoverished youth who see the sport as a way out of poverty, South Africa’s performance in Glasgow is nothing short of scandalous.

This slide into oblivion didn’t happen to other regular Olympic medal contributors. Athletics is still going strong and swimming has got even better.

There is a lack of qualified amateur boxing coaches and insufficient funding to help local boxers gain experience against top nations abroad.

Professional coaches often lament the lack of technical skills they see in amateur fighters after they’ve crossed the floor, even those who have won national titles.

But we believe there is a way to fast-track the sport and perhaps even to challenge for an Olympic medal at Los Angeles 2028.

Professionals are allowed to compete at the Games, and fighters like Tiisetso Matikinca and Charlton Malajika have the style to make an impact.

Throw in a couple of willing, top professional trainers to help guide the process, while ensuring the best amateur trainers in areas like East London, Soweto and Thohoyandou are up-skilled.

The South African National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) doesn’t like mixing amateurs and professionals, but that’s the type of mindset that needs to change.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee wants its athletes to win medals. Perhaps they can convince Sanabo, a member, to come up with a holistic plan that will allow South Africa to challenge for Olympic silverware while resurrecting the amateur system for a longer-term solution.