BRANCO PULLS OFF ANOTHER BIG FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 01 Oct 2008
Well known promoter Branco Milenkovic has pulled off another big fight for South Africa by winning the purse bid for the WBC junior-bantamweight title eliminator between Evans Mbamba and Devid Lookmahanak of Thailand.
The WBC "International Promoter of the Year" for 2007 said after winning the bid that he would stage the title eliminator in Johannesburg on December 5 to ensure that Mbamba benefits from fighting before a hometown crowd.
The World Boxing Council under president Don Jose Sulaiman had directed Mbamba and Lookmahanak to face each other in a title eliminator with the winner earning a mandatory crack at Mexican Cristian Mijares who holds both the WBC and WBA titles.
The handlers of both fighters failed to reach agreement by the deadline set which forced a purse bid which Milenkovic won although no details were available as yet.
Boxing writer Mesuli Zifo quoted Milenkovic as saying "I went deep into my pockets to ensure that Mbamba fights in front of his supporters."
Milenkovic said he did not want Mbamba to fight in Thailand for fear of facing a backlash from countryman Vusi Malinga's stunning fourth-round knockout of the great Thai legend Veeraphol Sahaprom in a WBC bantamweight title eliminator in June this year.
Milenkovic expressed concern that since Malinga upset the Thai icon who later retired from boxing, Thai promoters would probably have used all the tricks to ensure Mbamba did
not win.
"Ironically Lookmahanak's promoter Suchat Promotions is also the same promoter who staged Malinga's clash against Sahaprom," said Milenkovic.
Lookmahanak, who lost only twice in 20 bouts, suffered a highly
controversial defeat to popular Mexican whirlwind Jorge Arce in a WBC title eliminator in Mexico in May this year.
Because of the controversial manner in which he lost the fight the WBC opted to give him another chance to battle for the eliminator against Mbamba.
Milenkovic described his winning the bid as one of his greatest boxing achievements as Thai fighters hardly fight outside of their country unless they are paid well to fight in the United States.
Milenkovic recently staged the IBF eliminator in which Moruti Mthalane scored a lopsided decision over Hussein Hussein to earn a title shot at IBF flyweight champion Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on November 1 besides putting together some exciting international fight cards.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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