‘Redemption Day’: Lamati is reloading his gun

The BRD Promotions tournament billed “Redemption Day” at the Booysens Boxing Club in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon will proceed despite being shrouded in controversy due to a personal spat over the status of the headline bout.

Fans of popular former IBO super-bantamweight (junior-featherweight) champion Ludumo “9mm” Lamati, (18-0-1- 10 knockouts), will be delighted to see him back between the ropes for the first time since June 2021 when he faces experienced Tanzanian Haidari Mchanjo (16-9-5-6 kos) in an international 10-rounder.

Lamati, who hails from the Eastern Cape but holds his training camps up in Johannesburg, relinquished his IBO title recently, having gained a majority points decision over the tough Mexican Jose Martin Estrada Garcia in an epic fight in June last year.

The winner will be presented with a trophy belt, the Southern Africa “Ubuntu” belt, which will not be defended, but does carry the blessing of the World Boxing Council (WBC) and no sanctioning fees will be payable by the promoter.

The reputable sanctioning body (WBC), which opened a South African office in Johannesburg earlier this year under the management of Larry Wainstein and Allan Norman, has been involved in a bitter spat with Dr Peter Ngatane’s African Boxing Union (ABU) over the status of the belt which threatened to derail the tournament.

Not only did the WBC SA receive the blessing of WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman for the newly-designed trophy belt earlier in the week via a personally signed letter, but it was endorsed by a tweet on their official twitter account @WBCBoxing on Thursday.

It read: “The WBC Presents the Southern Africa ‘Ubuntu’ Belt, a Humanitarian trophy to recognise Lamati vs Mchanjo”.

The ABU is listed as an affiliate of the WBC, but claims to be the official arm of the WBC on the continent and the animosity may well continue to prevail.

It may be a bit of a comedown for 29-year-old Lamati, who split with his previous promoters in January and is now under Larry Wainstein’s management, but he is adamant there is no such thing as a “keep busy” fight.

His Tanzanian opponent is only 23-years-old but already has a 30-fight resume’, has been active and is clearly ring wise.

“I don’t look at records. Every man stepping into the ring needs to be taken seriously. I never take someone like that lightly. I know he’s a quick counter-puncher and can let his hands go,” said Lamati.

Lamati, trained by Phumzile Matyhila, remains ranked No 9 by the WBC and has always preferred to do his talking in the ring rather than make bold predictions.

But he won’t entertain any thoughts of ring rustiness either. He cannot afford to be classified as “inactive” if he intends scaling the ratings ladder in the major sanctioning bodies.

The tournament starts at 2pm with a full undercard and will be live-streamed on Vision View TV.