By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Boxing manager and promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud has a counter-offer to Soutj African promoter Branco Malenkovic’s proposal for a rematch between Filipino Alex Aroy and WBC mini-flyweight champion Zukisani Kwayiba who retained his title in a highly controversial manner at the Carousel north of Pretoria, South Africa last Friday.
Salud told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that a better idea would be to stage the rematch during the Manila convention of the WBC this November in a fight card to be promoted by MP Promotions and Salud himself.
Kwayiba won on the scorecards of two of the three hometown judges after the lights went out in mysterious fashion and the fight was abandoned in the seventh round.
Super Sport reported that Malenkovic said he would communicate with the WBC to see if the rematch would be enforced. The promoter said that “even if the WBC does not enforce the rematch It will consider staging it because of the manner in which the bout ended.”
The champion performed so poorly that Malenkovic himself said “he lookled terrible and did not justify his ranking by the WBC” where Kwayiba is No.5. Kwayiba;s trainer Mapetla Mazamo said that during the fight that the champion told him he was tired and wanted to quit.
In a report on the fight sportswriter Ron Jackson criticized the two judges who had the South African ahead by two points and said they were way off.
Aroy’s handlers have claimed that the lights went out at a time when Aroy was getting the upperhand against the champion.
