OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.30am.
PRESIDENT of the World Boxing Council Dr Jose Sulaiman said on Wednesday that he will ask boxing promoter Don King to stage the heavyweight unification title bout between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in South Africa.
Sulaiman said on his arrival in Johannesburg ahead of the world sanctioning body’s annual convention, starting on Monday, that he will push for the fight to be staged in South Africa, saying that he will talk to King “strongly and profoundly”.
King, who is the promoter of the bout, has staged an undisputed heavyweight championship in Africa before, organising the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire.
Meanwhile, President Nelson Mandela’s daughter Zindzi Mandela-Hlongwane is also behind the drive to bring the fight to South Africa, and has been talking to King. Mandela-Hlongwane has reportedly met with King and Holyfield, both of whom have expressed interest in staging the fight in South Africa.
Pay television will, however, need to generate in the region of $30-million to satisfy the damands of the promotors and their fighters.
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