HARARE —
The Zimbabwe National Boxing Board of Control is having problems updating national rankings following revelations that deceased boxers still appear on the ranking lists.
The rankings were last updated by the past Zimbabwe National Boxing Board of Control and the secretary general of the current board, Gilbert Munetsi, says the ratings are in tatters to the extent that deceased boxers and others who have since retired still have their names on the registers.
The board is busy licensing promoters and boxers and the national rankings are used to match boxers for a tournament or a fight.
Munetsi says this is proving to be a difficult task. As a result, he says they have declared vacant all national titles except two. This, he says, is to allow all boxers to start from scratch and earn their places on the national rankings.
Only two boxers Wesley McDad in the light heavyweight division and Tinashe Matiwana who fights in the bantamweight division have been declared national champions but with a condition to defend their titles this year.
Munetsi says the two were declared champions after winning their fights last November in a national tournament that was organized by the suspended Deltaforce Sports Trust at the City Centre.
The Munetsi board was appointed at the beginning of last year by the then Minister of Education, Arts, Sports and Culture David Coltart to replace the Richard Hondo-led board that had been in office for more than three decades.
Zimbabwean boxing has been on a free fall in the past 10 years due to none activity on the national front. Promoters have not been forthcoming to organize tournaments due to the prohibitive costs involved.
Some of the local boxers resolved to fight in other countries, especially in South Africa where boxing is very active with fights or tournaments staged every weekend.
Even Zimbabwe's own Africa and World Boxing Council International bantamweight champion, Charles Manyuchi, has never fought in Zimbabwe but in neighbouring countries.
Munetsi says they would try to make sure that the promoters they are licensing stage one or two tournaments in a year in a bid to revive the sport of boxing that has slowly been sinking into oblivion.
The rankings were last updated by the past Zimbabwe National Boxing Board of Control and the secretary general of the current board, Gilbert Munetsi, says the ratings are in tatters to the extent that deceased boxers and others who have since retired still have their names on the registers.
The board is busy licensing promoters and boxers and the national rankings are used to match boxers for a tournament or a fight.
Munetsi says this is proving to be a difficult task. As a result, he says they have declared vacant all national titles except two. This, he says, is to allow all boxers to start from scratch and earn their places on the national rankings.
Only two boxers Wesley McDad in the light heavyweight division and Tinashe Matiwana who fights in the bantamweight division have been declared national champions but with a condition to defend their titles this year.
Munetsi says the two were declared champions after winning their fights last November in a national tournament that was organized by the suspended Deltaforce Sports Trust at the City Centre.
The Munetsi board was appointed at the beginning of last year by the then Minister of Education, Arts, Sports and Culture David Coltart to replace the Richard Hondo-led board that had been in office for more than three decades.
Zimbabwean boxing has been on a free fall in the past 10 years due to none activity on the national front. Promoters have not been forthcoming to organize tournaments due to the prohibitive costs involved.
Some of the local boxers resolved to fight in other countries, especially in South Africa where boxing is very active with fights or tournaments staged every weekend.
Even Zimbabwe's own Africa and World Boxing Council International bantamweight champion, Charles Manyuchi, has never fought in Zimbabwe but in neighbouring countries.
Munetsi says they would try to make sure that the promoters they are licensing stage one or two tournaments in a year in a bid to revive the sport of boxing that has slowly been sinking into oblivion.