By Mesuli Zifo

South African promoter Branco Milenkovic is over the moon after being bestowed with the IBF Promoter of the Year honors at the federation’s annual convention currently underway in Las Vegas, US.

For the third time running Milenkovic whose Branco Sports Production (BSP) has not only proved to be on top of the boxing promotion game in his own country but among the best in the world as he beat seasoned promoters for the award once again.

The baritone-voiced Serbian-born South African has kept the local boxing flag flying by staging intriguing IBF sanctioned bouts and his promotion currently boasts IBF mini-flyweight champion Nkosinathi Joyi, IBF flyweight king Moruti Mthalane and IBF junior featherweight belt holder Takalani Ndlovu.

He has just lost another IBF champion when Mzonke Fana was recently stripped of his 130 lb crown for refusing to defend it against Dominican Republican born Argenis Mendez this coming Saturday.

Milenkovic who was not present at the Convention as he is preparing for this Saturday tournament scheduled to be held at Carnival City, Johannesburg, SA, said the award has motivated him to bring more IBF title fights to South Africa.

“This award is a fantastic acknowledgement for me and for SA boxing at large, “he said.

“And to achieve it against the top dogs in the promotion business makes it extra special.”

The BSP boss is the only African promoter to win the award much less does it three times in a row.

On Saturday he will stage the first female world title in SA when New Zealander Daniella Smith defends her IBF welterweight crown against Noni Thenge from SA.

The card will also feature an IBF junior featherweight eliminator for the second spot between locals Jeffrey Mathebula and Oscar Chauke.

It was not always smooth-sailing for Milenkovic as his first IBF sanctioned fight got off in disastrous circumstances when his charge Gabula Vabaza failed the medical test just hours before his vacant IBF junior featherweight title clash against Canadian Steve Molitor in September 2006.

Milenkovic who had already completed the preparation for the fight including flying and accommodating Molitor’s camp and other guests in the country incurred huge financial losses that he vowed never to be involved in boxing promotion business again.

“I thought at the time that if I could incur such financial losses the whole business was not worth it,” he recalls.

However after some deep thought he decided to soldier on and was duly rewarded when he produced his first IBF champion when Fana dethroned Malcolm Klassen in April 2007.

From then the champions kept trickling in although he lost some as it is expected in the cut-throat-dogs-eat-dogs boxing promotion business.

While he has been accused of getting favors from the IBF especially after the world body sided with him when it stripped then welterweight champion Joshua Clottey for going ahead with a unification clash against WBO champion Miguel Cotto in June 2009, Milenkovic insists that he is doing things by the book.

Clottey’s stripping opened the way for the Milenkovic-promoted Isaac Hlatshwayo to battle for the vacant crown when he beat Delvin Rodriguez to become the champion in Connecticut, US in August 2009.

The IBF was also criticized when it stripped Devon Alexander of his junior welterweight title for going ahead with a unification clash against WBO champion Timothy Bradley this past January instead of honouring his mandatory obligation’s against Milenkovic-promoted Kaizer Mabuza.

Milenkovic again benefitted from the IBF’s decision as Mabuza ended up fighting for the vacant crown when he lost via a seventh round stoppage to Zab Judah this past March.

“The IBF simply applies its own rules and if one fighter does not want to honour his mandatory obligations an appropriate action is taken,” Milenkovic insisted.

Milenkovic’s strength is his ability to dig deep in his pockets and compete financially in the purse bids which when won, as it is always the case, afford his fighters a home ground advantage in crucial fights.

For instance he managed to take Raul Garcia out of his Mexican sanctuary and brought him to Joyi’s backyard for his IBF mini-flyweight title defence and Joyi who was buoyed by the raucous East London crowd in his country easily lifted the crown.

Ndlovu also benefitted from Milenkovic’s purse bid triumph as he finally avenged his two previous defeats by Molitor by dethroning the Canadian in a fight held just a stone throw away from his Soweto home in SA.