Simangele Hadebe demotivated by cancelled international fight

Hadebe was meant to fight Mexico's Gabriela Sanchez for the IBF Intercontinental in Johannesburg on 24 May, however, Sanchez cancelled the fight due to personal reasons.

She says she’s concerned because she hasn’t taken the ring in a while.

"Unfortunately, my fight with Sanchez didn't happen last month on the 24th of May of which we were fighting for the Intercontinental IBF due to her pulling out of the fight.

"I was told due to personal reasons. I was disappointed I don't wanna lie because I haven't been fighting for almost over a year because I last fought last year May on the 6th. Her pulling out led to me being inactive, unfortunately," Hadebe said.

"I have to get another fight before I qualify to fight for the IBF Intercontinental and that made me even more disappointed but I just have to keep the focus because I've been training. Even with all the disappointment, and demotivation, I still kept on training."

Hadebe’s World Boxing Council (WBC) international female flyweight title fight against another Mexican Alma Melissa Meraz Rodriguez in August last year was postponed. 

She has urged Boxing South Africa (BSA) to push for local fighters to have more fights to increase their rankings.

"I think for boxers to be more consistent, to fight consistently, we do need the BSA involved because I do believe that there are promoters who have licences but haven't done not even one tournament,” she added.

“So, I think BSA should follow up on that because you can't have a licence and not have any event happening or whatsoever. Especially, if you are a boxer and have a licence and the whole year passes and you haven't even had a fight yet.

"So, we need to know how many promoters we have and how many have done tournaments so far, when did their licence, so that the more promoters, the more boxers that will be active."

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