National Sports

Mtimaukanena stripped of belt

World Boxing Forum (WBF), who sanctioned the Agnes Mtimaukanena vs Happiness Nkhoma bout at Nankhaka ground in Lilongwe at the weekend, has declared the welterweight fight null and void, The Nation has learnt.

WBF has also declared the welterweight category vacant.

WBF African representative Emmanuel Mlundwa, who visited The Nation offices in Lilongwe on Monday, cited incompetence on the part of judges Andy Muyaya and Gertrude Sanjale in the way they scored the fight.

Judge William Selekete from Zambia scored 94-98, Getrude Sinjale 95-100 and Andy Muyaya 93-100 in favour of Mtimaukanena.

Said Mlundwa: “It seems they (Muyaya and Sanjale) do not understand the 10-point system used for the fight. Their scores were not in harmony with the system. Only the Zambian judge William Selekete got the figures right.

In this system, you score each round out of 10 for 10 rounds. There was no way they could score 93-100 like Mr. Muyaya did. As such, we have declared the fight a ‘no-contest’ and the welterweight belt vacant.”

Mlundwa said he had assigned a competent judge in Lonzoe Zimba to be the chief judge, but the latter did not show up because of personal reasons.

“I was supposed to preside over the fight, but was delayed in Tanzania. I assigned Mr. Lonzoe Zimba to be in charge, but he was tied up,” said Mlundwa.

Malawi Boxing Committee vice-president Henry Sakala, who presided over the fight, agreed with Mlundwa, saying Muyaya and Salanje got it wrong.

“By scoring 93-100, Mr. Muyaya meant that Mtimaukanena won all the rounds which was not true. The same for Mrs. Salanje; she also implied that Agnes won all the 10 rounds. It is plain that they were ignorant of the rules. They should have consulted first,” said Sakala.

Sakala, however, said the fact that all the judges scored in favour of Mtimaukanena, shows that there was no malice intended, but only incompetence.

Both Mtimaukanena and Nkhoma could not be reached for their comment.

Meanwhile, Mlundwa said the two boxers will meet again in two months for another title fight.

“They need a two-month resting period, then they will fight again. But they need to find sponsorship themselves as it is not our responsibility to sponsor fights,” he said.

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