AFRICA’S NEW DAWN: Ndolo named the continent's ambassador for Commonwealth Boxing Council

The outgoing Kenya Proffesional Boxing commission(KPBC) patron Reuben Ndolo.PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO.

Commonwealth Boxing Council (CBC) congress sitting in London appointed Reuben Ndolo as its new Ambassador for Africa.

Ndolo, who had in December vied for the Council’s Presidency, but felt he was short-changed after the council opted to appoint Frank Hadley, Director of Australian National Boxing Federation, without holding elections, agreed to take up the new role, which will see the continent introduce the Commonwealth Boxing Council Africa title fights.

“It is a win-win situation for the whole council. We want to promote boxing and we agreed to work together before returning to the polls in  two years’ time.

“Now I have been given this new role to act as an ambassador of the Commonwealth Boxing Council and I will be keen to help our boxers get more fights. We will start by having Africa title fights for Commonwealth Council before seconding the winners to contest global fights in the council and other bodies,” said Ndolo.

 

WORK CLOSELY

Phillip Brook Smith, the CBC chairman, said an email statement it was crucial for them to work closely with African states, which had threatened to pull out of the council over election manipulation, after they appointed Australian Hadley as the new President without following the democratic process.

“We have managed to get the two to work together. It is a win for Commonwealth Boxing. Now with our new programme of introducing Africa title fights, we want them (Africans) to work harder to get better boxers to the Commonwealth games,” said Smith.

 

IMPROVE QUALITY

“There will be fights in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and South Africa. The competitions will make the continent improve the quality of boxers and make the Club Games more competitive in Gold Coast, Australia in 2018,” he added.

Smith came up with the re conciliatory agenda to unite CBC and it seems he has succeeded to have a unified council with all its members working hard together.

“Now we have to renegotiate the TV rights and get our boxers better deals for their fights. Africa will also take care of their affairs and promote their fights. I expect more fights to be on the card and relaunch of the women boxing in the continent,” said Smith.

Speaking in a telephone interview, Peter Ngatene, the CBC Director for South Africa, said it was a new beginning for the continent as they push their agenda to improve pugilists’ welfare.

“We want to start from a new slate. It is a new dawn for us. Now we have a chance to promote and market our own fights. We will enter into deals with television stations to show our bouts and increase the pay perks for the boxers,” said Ngatene.

Africa Boxing Union (ABU) Secretary General and Uganda’s representative at the CBC Celestine Mindra, said more fights will come to Africa.

“Now we have Ndolo championing our agenda at the CBC. He has proved before that he can organise more fights and it will be the same again. He organised over 1,000 fights during his tenure as President of CBC back in 2000,” he said.

CBC Director from Zambia Nelson Sapi gave his congratulatory message to Ndolo and said it heralds a new start for the continent.

Ndolo said they will give top sports pay TV stations their calendar as they roll out fights in Africa.

“We will start with fights in Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. We will talk with Supersport, Azam TV and GTV of Ghana,” he said.

Ndolo also said they will carry out anti-doping tests and have sensitisation seminars with boxers on how to live healthy and what type of supplements to use in their training programmes.

“It is important to have sanity in the sport (boxing) and have a clean sport. Anti-doping will be a key element in our operations,” Ndolo concluded.