After traveling almost 10,738-kilometers from General Santos City to Durban, South Africa, Jayson Mama learned last Thursday that his supposed IBF World Flyweight title bout against Moruti Mthalane had been scrapped.
And it’s not because of someone getting injured or sick. Instead, event promoter Tono Promotions “failed to meet basic requirements to enable Boxing South Africa to sanction and give credibility to the event.”
The Games and Amusements Board felt disappointed since Mama, who trained hard for the last three months, went home Friday empty-handed.
“It’s disappointing that a Filipino boxer had to travel so far only to find out that his fight is not going to push through because of the inefficiencies of an irresponsible promoter,” lamented chairman Baham Mitra.
Mama, who fights under the Sanman banner, did his due diligence upon learning of the bout.
Tono, on the other hand, did not even pay the Filipino’s appearance fee at the very least, as Boxing South Africa said that the promotion was unreachable.
“Jayson Mama trained hard for this and deserves what is due to him,” continued Mintra.
“We will make sure that this does not happen again.”
This is the second time that a Filipino boxer saw his fight in South Africa get cancelled at the last minute.
Jonas Sultan was supposed to face Ricardo Malajika in Johannesburg. Though the fight was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, promoter Golden Gloves were not paid the appearance fee it was due, which amounted to US$800.
