DAVID ISAACSON | The least Boxing SA can do is learn to count properly

Just when you think things can’t get worse in boxing, SA finds new depths to plumb. 

After Kevin Lerena’s lost opportunities in that controversial first round against Daniel Dubois in London, local officials, seemingly not wanting to be outdone, responded with a hearty “hold our beers”. 

First up was Sunday’s SA heavyweight title fight in which Keaton Gomes, Lerena’s stablemate, dethroned Chris Thompson by stoppage in the sixth round to lift the national belt as well as the African Boxing Union strap. 

Gomes decked Thompson twice in the first round, and both times referee Eric Khoza took ages tolling the counts. 

On both occasions, from the time Thompson hit the deck until Khoza reached “eight”, more than 13 seconds had elapsed. 

Maybe he was using African Boxing Union time (the continental body’s rules were in effect, as opposed to the SA rules). 

By my timing of the first knock-down, he said three at 4.35 sec, four at 6.16, five at 7.53, six at 9.43, seven at 11.30 and eight at 13.08. His second-long intervals ranged from 1.37 sec to 1.9 sec. 

For the second knock-down Khoza called three at 5.51 sec, four at 6.90, five at 8.66, six at 10.18, seven at 12.18 and eight at 13.60. There the second-long intervals ranged from 1.39 sec to two seconds. 

That variation is mind-boggling when considering that for every knock-down the timekeeper at ringside counts off the seconds, using a clock. 

On top of that Khoza still gave Thompson extra time to recover while he determined whether he should continue or not.

By the time he instructed the fighters to continue boxing after the first knock-down, 19 seconds had passed in total; after the second knock-down it was 20 seconds. 

Together that’s about 20 seconds of hunting time Gomes was denied. 

In spite of this he still managed to land more shots to the head, and a dazed Thompson clung to Gomes’s waist to stay off the floor at the end of the round. 

Thompson’s one knee made contact with the canvas while the bell was sounding, and he was clearly down as a result of the punches he’d taken a little earlier. 

The only reason he hadn’t gone down was because he was holding — an illegal tactic — and the referee would have been justified counting for a third time, but Khoza chose not to. 

In this case there is possibly some wiggle room for Khoza to defend his action, but the clincher for me was that when Thompson got back to his feet, having been helped up by trainer Shannon Strydom, he was as unsteady as a New Year’s reveller. 

Khoza’s decision not to count would have been a lot more controversial had the SA rules been in effect, where three knock-downs in a round is an automatic stoppage. 

That could have been, and maybe should have been, Gomes’s victory right there. 

Thompson, to his credit, fought his way back into the contest, but after getting caught in the sixth round and voluntarily taking a knee, Khoza immediately waved it off. 

Perhaps the referee judged that as surrender, but he probably should have at least given the boxer the benefit of an eight-count which, as we now know, would have translated into a reprieve of 20 seconds or so. 

Hopefully Khoza can improve his timing in future (he just needs to learn where the timekeeper is sitting), but what worries me more is that I’m hearing that Boxing SA (BSA) is considering telling all world sanctioning bodies they must use SA rules. 

I don’t mind SA rules taking precedence over ABU (for heaven’s sake the SA title is surely more valuable in this country than an ABU belt), but the thing is that most top sanctioning bodies use the unified rules which have become the norm around the world. 

SA rules, if anything, need to keep in touch with international practice. 

A push to favour home-grown rules could take local boxing back to the early 1970s when this country was an international backwater. The ring rules in place were out of whack with the rest of the planet.

The SA commission at the time, trying to make friends abroad and wanting more big fights locally, engaged administrators overseas and revamped their own rules. That is partly how the country scooped those big fights involving Romeo Anaya, Victor Galindez, Samuel Serrano, Antonio Cervantes and Mike Weaver. 

Do we really want to risk going back 60 years?

And if that’s not enough, what really got my goat this past weekend was the manner in which the King Misuzulu tournament in Durban was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday, and then to Thursday. 

I’m not even talking about the promoter, J4Joy, failing to pay Floyd Mayweather as they’d allegedly agreed to in their contract, which is another issue entirely that happens to remind me of the Laila Ali fiasco of 2006, when the local promoter then also failed to cough up the cash. 

My greatest concern over the two postponements was around the boxers, who have to reduce weight ahead of the tournament. 

That requires dieting and frequently dehydrating. It’s harder for some than for others because some walk around heavier than their respective fighting limits. Weight reduction is a tough business that has become increasingly scientific, and if it’s not done properly it can be dangerous.

The theory is that dehydration reduces the cerebrospinal fluid that normally cushions the brain from blows, though the 24-hour gap between weigh-in and the fight is supposed to be enough to restore it. At one stage, many years ago, weigh-ins were conducted on the day of the fight. 

The boxers contracted to fight in the Durban show have had to hold their weight for five extra days, and on top of that they didn’t know if the tournament would actually take place.

Just think how difficult that must be for the boxers, especially those who flew in from overseas; pushing on with a strict diet for five days uncertain if the fight they’ve been preparing for is actually going to materialise. 

On Monday morning I asked Boxing SA (BSA) if they were happy with the postponements and if the boxers’ purses had at least been lodged with them — the country’s boxing legislation requires promoters to deposit the purse money with the regulator 30 days before a tournament, though this is often waived to 14 days, sometimes less, if at all. 

By Tuesday evening I was still waiting for a response, although at least some boxers living outside Durban had their trips confirmed only late Tuesday afternoon.  

The weigh-in was scheduled for noon today (Wednesday).  

Why put the poor boxers through that? BSA need to kick J4Joy’s backside hard. 

The primary purpose of BSA is to protect the integrity of professional boxing and offer fighters safety from unscrupulous promoters. They’re supposed to achieve this by enforcing the regulations and ensuring all ring officials know what they’re doing.

Their core function is not to hold workshops and symposia.

But hey, I wouldn’t be surprised if they charge their beer glasses (or wine or whiskey or whatever), toast their mediocrity and do it all again next year.