Female boxer Laila Ali has jetted out of South Africa following the cancellation of and controversy surrounding her planned bout with challenger Gwendolyn O’Neill, local television reported on Tuesday night.
The 28-year-old light-middleweight champion arrived in the country last week for a much-touted fight against O’Neill, a 36-year-old mother-of-five.
But as arrangements for the fight, scheduled for Cape Town on August 5, became shrouded in controversy, Ali pulled out with her manager, saying local controversial promoter Joe Manyathi had failed to meet his financial obligations.
In an interview with the e-tv television station on Tuesday, Damon Bingham of the Ali camp confirmed that the bout was off, saying Ali had left and he too was packing his bags.
A spokesperson for Boxing South Africa, the regulator for the sport that threw its weight behind Manyathi’s efforts, insisted that the fight had merely been ”postponed”.
Manyathi has been criticised for luring Ali to the country with the promise of a fee estimated at about R3,5-million rand and for dishonouring her legendary heavyweight champion father.
A rival promoter offered to give Ali a chance to fight at a weekend tournament to ”salvage” what had become an embarrassing situation.
Ali had indicated that a portion of the proceeds of her Cape Town fight would be given to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the charity started by the political icon, former South African president and erstwhile amateur boxer. — Sapa-dpa