DEON POTGIETER, Cape Town | Wednesday 3.00pm.
AMIDST the growing controversy surrounding the National boxing commission’s chief executive Mava Malla, Phillip “the time bomb” Ndou is set to make an explosive first defence of his national featherweight title on Wednesday night.
His opponent, who accepted the fight on less than a week’s notice” is Solomzi Govuza.
The reason for the last minute arrangement of the title fight is that Ndou has signed a three fight deal with the SABC, which starts tonight. “The ruling is that there must be at least a two weeks notice period before a fight like this can take place.” says Jeff Ellis, a member of the Gauteng boxing control commission.
“We have to protect the health of our fighters. There would be nothing wrong with postponing the fight for a week to ensure that the fighters are all fit and able to fight.” The match has, however, been approved by Malla.
There is a growing fear that given Ndou’s awesome punching power he could inflict serious damage on Govuza, if Govuza is not in top form. The challenger hails from the Border, an area known for breeding tough fighters, but most fight analysts agree the fight should be postponed.
Ndou is known to bealways fighting fit and has a killer instinct seldom seen in the ring since the days of the “Silver Assassin” Charlie Weier. Govuza on the other hand is fairly unknown with nine fights under his belt and is only due to receive a medical today, hours before entering the ring against one of the deadliest punchers in the game.