Russia will also benefit from boxing deal with SA, says Sanabo boss

South African amateur boxing boss Siya Mkwalo says the recently signed co-operative agreement with his Russian counterpart is aimed at getting the sport back to top international podiums.

Local boxing was once world-class, but it has long since disappeared off the radar.

Mkwalo said the South African National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) deal was the first of its kind for the country, which in the past few decades had enjoyed looser agreements with Cuba and Botswana.

“I was taken aback with the infrastructure that they have,” said Mkwalo, who visited Russia earlier this month.

They had a national boxing centre with tournament and training rings, a fully equipped gym, accommodation, conference rooms and other facilities.

Sanabo has no facility to call its own and most clubs were housed in municipal centres, shacks, garages or were linked to professional gyms.

“There are massive benefits. One, we’ve agreed with the Russians that on an annual basis the South African team would visit Russia and have a training camp as well as a competition, and the same would happen in reverse. We will go to Russia in their summer and they will come here in our summer.”

On top of that South African teams would also go there to prepare ahead of major international competitions.

Local coaches would also be upskilled in programmes run by Russian mentors who would be based here for at least a year, if not longer.

Only one South African coach currently had a top-rated international grade, Mkwalo said.

Russian coaches were expected to attend the South African championships in Limpopo from July 4-9 to assess local boxers, and in future some Russian boxers would also compete in the national tournament as part of an invitational team.

Mkwalo said he was confident a scholarship scheme for South African boxers would also be added to the agreement, allowing fighters to go to university in Sochi from as early as September.

Boxing was South Africa’s richest source of Olympic silverware before international isolation after the 1960 Rome Games with 19 medals, but since returning in 1992 the country hasn’t won a single medal at a Games or world championships.

In fact, no South African boxer has won more than one fight at a single Olympics.

Russia, by contrast, has 30 Olympic boxing medals in total, excluding those won by their fighters under the flag of the former Soviet Union.

Mkwalo believed the Russians would also benefit by the deal. “When you prepare for a competition you need to [compete] against the weak, the same strength and stronger competition.

“Their boxers are certainly going to benefit ... they may be strong, but ... they may be defeated because sometimes you get confused by someone who is lower than you in terms of performance.”

Mkwalo said he had made the approach to Russia with the blessing of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and the department of sport, arts and culture.

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