In the last article we explored human nature, rights and responsibilities and the agency and enterprise with which the human beings play rights against responsibilities in order to ensure that one is suppressed and the other amplified in order to ensure that they exacts the maximum advantage despite the fact that the wider community might ultimately stand to lose much more than the parochial individual gains being gamed for.
The game of boxing is fraught with the same manipulation and maneuvering that is captured within this framework of discussion.
In the series of articles on boxing covered here, we attempted to share with you the critical, subtle and more direct role that the Boxing Commission of Fiji plays in how boxing is managed in Fiji, the framework within which it operates and the direction it takes.
We focused on promoters, programs, weigh-ins, fight nights and fight officials. We also highlighted disciplinary procedures and program vetting as these are all key cogs in lifting the standard of boxing in Fiji.
In the process of discussing some of the more subtle details about managing boxing, we highlighted the involvement of shady individuals, their conduct and their declared versus undeclared motivations.
A number of disciplinary proceedings had been instituted by BCF and for a while it appeared that performance would triumph over dark designs.
Unfortunately, these are difficult times when disinformation and misinformation can be used incessantly to tarnish truths and elevate lies and manipulations to glowing attributes. You might have guessed by now that something is headed for a change in Fiji Boxing. Well, a new board has been announced.
They take over from next week spelling out drastic changes for Fiji Boxing. I would like to take this opportunity to briefly outline for you what we managed to achieve and what we will need to be particularly careful about from here onwards.
A stocktake of Fiji Boxing
The Boxing Commission of Fiji (BCF) was set up in 2018 and the board I chaired was appointed in September 2019.
That board operated for approximately three years and 11 months – one month shy of four years.
Keen followers will recall that 2020 and 2021 were plagued with the COVID-19 pandemic.
We managed to host two programs in 2019, four in 2020 and one in 2021.
During that time we had only two active promoters: South Pacific Boxing Promotions (four programs) and Kiran’s Boxing Promotions (two programs).
One lack luster program was held in Suva in March 2020. The post-COVID-19 run began late in 2022 largely because there was only one active promoter left in Fiji.
This was South Pacific Boxing Promotions (SPBP) and they got the ball rolling in June of 2022. This was followed by a new promotion in July 2022 by Bula Boxing Promotions. SPBP responded with one in August.
Then another new promoter (Lewis-Hill Boxing Promotions) entered the scene with a blockbuster program in Suva in September 2022. SPBP followed with two programs in October and December 2022 – both at Prince Charles Park in Nadi.
Thus we ended up with six programs in 2022 even though the boxing year started late in June 2022. This year (2023) began on a high note with a long-awaited change in government amid high expectations all around.
Between March and July 2023, three stellar programs were held in Suva and one that needed better organisation was held in Nadi on April 22.
Bula Boxing had rebranded to Tuwai Boxing Promotions (TBP) with the inclusion of rugby legend Jerry Tuwai in its team and this attracted a substantial three-program sponsorship commitment from local business giant, Flour Mills of Fiji Ltd (FMF).
On the other hand, Lewis-Hill Boxing (LHBP) had looped in local poultry Don, Rooster Chicken as its main sponsor and the boxing scene began to rock after a long wait and much effort from all of the key stakeholders involved.
The long-soughtfor elusive confidence had finally returned to Fiji boxing and finance was ready to flow in to fuel the sport to greater heights.
Amid this, a healthy respect had developed among promoters to respect each other’s programs. LHBP had carefully built up match-ups for later programs as seen in the recent explosive heavyweight title fight between James Singh and Semi Dauloloma.
After flooring Dauloloma, James Singh is poised for bigger things. Similarly, they had carefully crafted Joseph Kwadjo’s challenge for Alivereti Kauyaca’s cruiserweight belt.
These two pugilists had been strategically placed on a path that would culminate in an inevitable bust-up between the two.
We are there now. On another issue, boxers wanting to fight abroad have finally accepted that BCF clearance is necessary.
With just a few exceptions, this was being managed under tight control. In fact, some of our overseas results have been much better than ever when compared over the past five years.
BCF held firm in its resolve to provide a receptive, responsive and helpful administrative space as well as to provide both a predictable and consistent framework for decision making. We continued to be firm with a renegade promoter throughout this year.
There was no discrimination or antipathy towards anyone from BCF even though repeated allegations were made of this and bigger evils against the BCF and its chair through a concerted disinformation and misinformation campaign launched over the social media.
The end result is that we now have a new board and would be foolish not to support it as true fans of Fiji Boxing. Let me take the rest of the space here to lay out what I see as challenges that the new board needs to be particularly careful about.
Road humps ahead
The behind-the-scenes machinations are already in motion.
Tuwai Boxing Promotions was supposed to host a program on August 19 at Lawaqa Park.
This has now been shelved largely because their main bout – James Singh vs Puna Rasaubale – had been in jeopardy and has now been nixed.
Joseph Kwadjo vs Alevereti Kauyaca is no longer firmly in Winston Hill’s hands because of poaching by a rival promoter who is back in the mix.
He has announced his program for October 2023 while our board still holds him as “pending”.
In fact, that promoter has been announcing the change in board and its composition (naming new board members) over the past five months even before the minister released the names to us last week.
There are ominous whispers about meetings held offshore over April 23-25 this year that were to be critical to the direction boxing would move in Fiji from here onwards.
Already, three boxers who were released for overseas bouts have been removed from programs because they went through BCF and not a self-selected broker of questionable repute.
It is not too far that this aspect of boxing will be “cornered” and owned by unscrupulous operators if we do not tighten the controls in time.
The cap on two title fights per program in order to give other promoters opportunities to hold title fights is already being defied in discussions.
The same is also happening to the cap on eight bouts per program.
Once this changes, unscrupulous predatory promoters will hog match-ups as well as title fights. In the process, other promoters will fizzle out because they will simply not have enough exciting bouts for their programs.
This list of dark dreaded directions can go on, but I do not wish to disillusion the boxing fraternity here. There are interesting prospects and possibilities staring at us as we gaze into the murky future.
Bright sparks
We recently saw Alivereti Dodomo of the famous Kolitapa family topple Abdul Abdulrahman for the Australia National Boxing Federation New South Wales lightheavyweight title via a TKO2 in Bankstown, Australia.
That was supposed to be a walkover for Rahman who had an 11-0 record with 10 KOs! Dodomo was fighting only his second fight and the match- makers clearly underestimated both his skills and his determination.
There is a misunderstanding that Alifereti is not recognised by BCF because he has been fighting in Australia without BCF clearance.
The technicality, as helpfully pointed out by Nathan Singh, is that Dodomo debuted in Australia and has never registered in Fiji. Once he indicates that he wishes to fight in Fiji, he will need to register following set processes.
In another important bout for women’s boxing in Fiji, Maureen Chand took on Pam McClelland for the vacant Australian National Boxing Federation Australasian lightweight title. After a laudable performance, she fell short on points. Thus we end this column on a high note.
Boxing is a noble and resilient sport that has always managed to rise before the count of 10. As the bell tolls once again, we wait with high hopes. Long live Fiji Boxing!
•DR SUBHASH APPANNA is a USP academic who has been writing on issues of historical and national significance. He is also the outgoing Chair of Boxing Commission of Fiji. The views expressed here are his alone and not necessarily shared by this newspaper or his employers.
