Gilmore promotes boxing
A massive year of touring and promoting in the name of boxing.
ANTON Gilmore, boxing developer and promoter, has embarked on a massive year of touring and promoting in the name of boxing.
Together with the Johannesburg Council and his desire to promote amateur boxing throughout Johannesburg in not more than nine events over the next year, culminating in the grand finale at the Southern Giant in November 2018.
The population of South Africa has about three million foreigners living in the country and the fighters that rise through the ranks will hit a ‘brick wall’ as they can never fight for a Johannesburg title or progress to Gauteng or South African colours.
Fight with Insight has a large contingent of amateur fighters that are foreigners and the great Southern boxers in the likes of Paul Kamanga from the DRC. The first collective event that launches is the Simunye Cup in Berea on March 21 at Alec Gershell Park.
Photo: Annette van Schalkwyk
Altogether 20 amateur fights will take place having the African boxers taking on the South African fighters. Last year more than 1 000 inhabitants came to support the fighters, presenting a good show. Some names to watch from Fight with Insight and the Southern suburbs will be Jezdel Kayembe, Christian and Joel Libote and Stan Chizungu. Local names we can expect to see are Wesley Verster, Akim Masamba and Reggie Magashoa who is earmarked for the Olympics and more.
Front: Manny Fernandes, Anton Gilmore and Lehlohonolo Ledwaba.
Back: Manny Casim, Ricky Weinstein, Harold Volbrecht, Roger Maxilane, Lionel Hunter and Norman Hlabane.
Gilmore has also noticed boxers are struggling to find employment so he will launch his first small business for informal trading.
Boxing starts at noon at Alec Gershill Park, Stanhope Street, Berea. This first event lays a foundation for the Simunye Cup and follows a three-month plan to expose those boxers living in South Africa through sport.
The second event Gilmore has planned is a great event to take place at the Nelson Mandela Court Yard on Constitution Hill Prison. This small invite-only event takes place on April 27, which is Freedom Day. A 15-bout event will be once again hosted between Africans and South Africans. The event will start at noon and will run until 5pm.
The final event in the trilogy will take place on May 19 at the Rand Stadium in the car park while the soccer final is being played inside the park. This 20-bout event will, by now, have isolated some real foreign talent living in South Africa. Boxing starts at noon and the soccer at 3pm.
Photo: Annette van Schalkwyk.
At each of these three events, Gilmore is going to launch an informal business that the Fight with Insight learners have put together through coaching from lecturers in the business field. He will then follow on this tour of fights with his next event on June 16 at Fashion Kapitol on Youth Day.
He then embarks on a trip to Brazil with 10 Fight with Insight children to learn about a project called Fight for Peace in the favelas of Rio where the project is hosted.
Once Gilmore returns, he will be opening up gyms with Fight with Insight in Clarens, Mdentsane and Cape Town. Next up will be his event in Sofiatown on Women’s Day (August 9). Then in October, he will present a warm-up for the Southern Giant. This year the Southern Giant will incorporate an event on an amateur and pro-am level where the best foreign fighters will fight the best local fighters and be crowned Southern Giant Africa Champion.
It seems boxing is on the rise and it is now being adopted at a scholastic level where Elands Park High School will now use the Fight with Insight Programme to recondition children’s minds in a beneficial way. This project could pave the way for more schools to adopt boxing as a mechanism for rehabilitation and recovery. Fight with Insight was nominated for Project of the Year in 2017 and they will now utilise this understanding to assist the public at large.
Gilmore’s professional boxers will have a full year ahead of them with Mike Mokoena fighting for the WBO All-Africa title in Ghana on March 31. Leron Miles and Julian Cook will be fighting on April 8 at Emperors Palace in the Africa Ring in conjunction with Golden Gloves Promotions while Warren le Roux will fight on April 7 at the Dido Production Tournament in Krugersdorp.
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