Style and action create enticing spectacle at Arena’ boxing

It seemed a little like pie in the sky given that most newcomers to the fistic sport use varying degrees of superlatives during their introductory speeches to predict how high they will intend to take the ailing sport of boxing. Alas, they mostly deliver empty promises.

NBC, however — comprising Ncobo, promoter Anney Xala, Craig Mukhuba, Lerato Mogorosi, Koketjo Tsebe and Sifiso Shongwe — didn’t only raise the bar for other promoters in an attempt to entice business to invest in boxing. Instead, they made such an impression that expectations are even higher for their second tourney on May 30.

This second event will be held at the same venue of their partners Arena Holdings, which owns the Sowetan, Sunday Times, Business Day, Daily Dispatch, Herald and other titles as well as online titles including TimesLIVE, SowetanLIVE, Daily DispatchLIVE and HeraldLIVE, among others.

This ground-breaking development project, the first to involve a media house, began with the second smallest weight division in boxing — the flyweight — where the likes of Jake Ntuli, Jacob “Baby Jake” Matlala, Moruti “Baby Face” Mthalane, Masibulele “Hawk” Makepula, Zolile “Bonecrusher” Mbityi and Jackson “M3″ Chauke won world titles.

It featured fighters from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and Free State, while Ncobo made it clear that his focus was on debutants and fighters with less than five boxing matches because they are about development.