I have to chuckle a bit when
people say the job of the
President of the World
Boxing Federation is always
without stress.
Allow me to take you into a
journey of an example of a
tournament which I was
supposed to supervise a few
weeks ago.
The agreement between the
promoter based in Africa
(not South Africa) and the
WBF was reasonably standard.
Sanction fees to be paid in
advance, and officials fees
to be paid prior to the
commencement of the weigh
in, as well as air tickets
provided one week in
advance, and the hotel where
the WBF officials would be
staying to be made known.
Visas were going to be
organized at the embassy in
Pretoria.
It was a new promoter and as
usual we tried to assist him
as far as possible.
Everything was looking great
- sanction fee and belt fee
was paid in advance and we
were advised of the
excellent hotel where we
would be based.
The only issue seemed to be
the air tickets. After about
50 phone calls, we were
advised that our air tickets
would be confirmed the day
before actual departure.
Certainly not ideal and
certainly stressful.
At around midnight I
received our air tickets,
but strangely enough they
were from Johannesburg to
the country and not from
Cape Town. The promoter had
a very good person trying to
facilitate everything and
this person called me to say
that he would send the air
ticket from Cape Town early
the next morning.
At around noon (3 hours
before I was supposed to fly
out of Cape Town) I received
my air ticket which was a
one way ticket from Cape
Town to Johannesburg. More
stress!
Upon contacting him, I was
advised that I would get my
return ticket from
Johannesburg to Cape Town
upon arriving in
Johannesburg. More often
than not I would have
canceled the fight but this
being a new promoter I
decided to give them the
benefit of the doubt.
I arrived in Johannesburg
and met the other WBF
officials (they lived in
Joburg). We hurriedly rushed
to international departures
where we met some of the
fighters due to fly out with
us. Upon checking in we were
told that the air tickets
from Johannesburg to the
country in question had not
been paid for.
Heightened stress! After
another 25 phone calls it
was evident that we would
not be flying and I took an
executive decision there and
then to cancel our title
fight.
It was now around 9pm. I was
still in Johannesburg
airport with no return air
ticket to Cape Town. I went
to the various airlines and
there were no further
flights to Cape Town that
evening. I tried to book a
ticket on line for the next
day but to no avail -
flights completely full
being the festive season.
This resulted in having to
stay two nights in Joburg at
my own expense as well as
purchasing an air ticket
back to Cape Town.
I usually play golf on a
Friday morning with one or
two boxing promoters and
arrived at the course to
join them to their
amazement. They thought I
would be in central Africa.
I think the stress over what
happened affected my swing
and I deservedly got thumped
on the golf course to the
delight of the boxing
promoters.
In three weeks time, we go
back to this country
hopefully with everything
organized properly and
professionally.
Stress? All part of the
game!