DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Wednesday 2.30pm.
World Boxing Organisation featherweight kingpin Naseem Hamed and International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight world champion; Paul Ingle are both seeking replacement challengers for their respective titles on March 11 in London.
Vuyani Bungu, the current number one IBF contender has been mentioned as a possible for the Ingle fight. Hamed reportedly offered Ingle $1-million to replace Junior Jones as his opponent after the Jones fight fell through. Ingle turned it down saying; “I would love to fight Naz again, but there’s no way in hell I’ll fight him on March 11”.
“We’ve spoken to the promoters of both champions,” says Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves, who promotes Bungu, “Hamed doesn’t want to fight Bungu and there is some disarray around the Ingle issue.”
If Ingle chooses to take on a lesser opponent and defends his title successfully, he will be forced to make a mandatory defence against Bungu later in the year. Ingle was set to have met former world champion Kevin Kelley on 11 March, but has since rejected him as an opponent.
If the Ingle fight doesn’t come off now, Bungu will have a warm-up fight in March and then challenge for the title in the middle of the year. “The Beast” hasn’t fought since he made the record breaking 13th defence of the IBF junior featherweight world title in February last year.