By Mesuli Zifo
THE boxing referee Allen Matakane who is at the center of the riots that erupted at Orient Theatre in East London, South Africa last weekend has broken his silence and poured his heart out about his manhandling by prominent promoter Mzi Mnguni and the subsequent threat to his life by the spectators.
Matakane bore the brunt of the spectators and Mnguni when he saved crowd favorite Ayanda Yaphi from Godfrey Nzimande’s attack in the eighth round of their South African junior lightweight title clash.
Peeved by what they felt was the premature stoppage of the fight, spectators hurled missiles into the ring with some missing the fighters by inches.
Nzimande who was the visiting fighter fled to the safety of the dressing under the flood of bottles many which hit officials who tried to restore order.
The skirmish erupted shortly after Mnguni had leapt into the ring and charged at Matakane, pushed him against the ropes and demanded to know why he stopped the fight.
The scuffle was swiftly stopped by BSA officials but as objects rained in the ring, Matakane was escorted out of the hall by police as spectators bayed for his blood.
Matakane described the pandemonium as one of the scariest moments of his life “when all I did was to save a fighter from taking unnecessary punishment.”
Explaining his decision to intervene on behalf of Yaphi, Matakane said he watched the East London challenger closely as he repeatedly took wicked blows from Nzimande in the eighth round.
Despite the angry reaction of the spectators, Matakane stands by his decision and insists that he has no doubt that he acted in the best interest of Yaphi by stopping the fight.
“There is no doubt in my mind that I acted correctly by stopping the fight when I did,” he said.
“Yaphi was staggered to the ropes after being hit by a powerful punch by Nzimande but he saved himself by holding.
“I would have stopped the fight right there had he not held but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
After Matakane had separated the two fighters, Nzimande again landed another big punch which staggered Yaphi to the ropes and this time Matakane has seen enough.
“I was shocked when Bro Mzi charged at me because as an experienced person who has been in the game for a long time I expected him to understand better than act with the manner he did,” he said.
Matakane, one of South African internationally accredited officials, has experienced different reactions for his refereeing a fight, having been blamed for taking too long to stop a bout leading to the death of one of the fighters in June 2008.
This was when he allowed Samora Msophi to take too much punishment from the first round until he collapsed in the fourth round of in his SA junior flyweight title clash against Mfundo Gwayana at the same venue of last weekend’s chaos.
Msophi later died in hospital from injuries he suffered from the fight, a tragedy that haunted Matakane for a long time.
Drawing parallels with last weekend’s incident, Matakane insisted that the Msophi tragedy did not influence him to stop the fight earlier than expected.
“The Msophi tragedy was not preying on my mind at all unless it did while I was not aware,” he argued.
“All I saw was the hurt fighter and I reacted accordingly.”
However he admitted that the action of the spectators confused him when “it was the same people who accused me of stopping Msophi’s fight too late.”
Despite the threat to his life Matakane who is the traffic police officer by profession vowed to continue with his refereeing duties if appointed to be the third man in the ring.
“This has not fazed me at all, if anything it has made me more determined to continue serving boxing and I am glad that people know that I am not motivated by financial gain but by the love of the sport because I have a steady job.”