By Jake Donovan
For well over a year, Vusi Malinga has sat back and watched four of the best bantamweights in the world square off against one another while his own career has been placed on hold.
The South African bantamweight hasn’t fought since winning a sanctioned title eliminator against Michael Domingo in Oct. ’10. The belt for which he is the mandatory challenger has since changed hands twice, to properly illustrate just how long he has been waiting in line.
With the Showtime Bantamweight tournament and an IBF-ordered rematch between Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko both officially in the books, Malinga is now demanding next crack at a fight he believes should’ve taken place long ago.
“We negotiated more than a year ago for a fight with Abner Mares, with the winner of the rematch between Yonnhy Perez and Joseph King Kong Agbeko,” reveals Branco Milenkovic, who promotes Malinga and has been working with the IBF to order his fighter’s long overdue title shot. “Mares and his people declined and instead took part in the bantamweight tournament.
“Those fights are over, and it is time for Vusi to get his title shot.”
A report on Boxingscene.com in mid-December indicated that Mares – who won the title in controversial fashion last August - has 90 days from the point of his December 3 rematch win over Agbeko to satisfy his mandatory title defense. Having already been out of the ring for more than 14 months, Malinga has no desire to step aside, regardless of whatever compensation package is offered.
“The IBF has ordered negotiations for this fight,” Milenkovic points out. “Vusi was supposed to fight the winner of the first fight between Mares and Agbeko, but the rematch was ordered. Now it is our turn.”
Working in their favor are comments made by Mares and promoter Golden Boy Promotions that they are searching for a defense more along the lines of a stay-busy fight after enduring such a tough schedule over the past two years. In succession, Mares has faced Yonnhy Perez, Vic Darchinyan and two fights with Agbeko, with all four contests going the full 12-round distance.
Mares managed to endure his share of war wounds over that stretch. Despite scoring a decisive win over Agbeko in their December rematch, Mares was issued two separate suspensions – a 60-day timeout for a cut over his right eyebrow, and the shorter period of 180 days or medical clearance from a qualifying physician for right hand pain suffered during the bout.
In addition, his license has been suspended indefinitely until he undergoes and submits medical results for MRI, neurological and ophthalmology exams.
Should Mares be deemed unfit to fight during the specified period set by the IBF, then Malinga will have no choice but to move on to whatever can be worked out in relation to his pending title shot. The desire is to fight Mares, a fight Milenkovic believes can be made given his friendly relationship with Golden Boy Promotions. The goal, however, is to collect what he believes is owed to him.
“The mandatory is overdue,” states Malinga, who hasn’t performed on the title stage since a 1st round knockout loss to then-top bantamweight Hozumi Hasegawa in their March ’09 title fight. “We hope that Abner is healthy enough to return to the ring. But he had the chance to fight us and chose a different path. Now it has come back around and he has to fight us. I’ve waited long enough.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
