Phillip “The Time Bomb” Ndou in the dock for assault

Respected local boxer Phillip "The Time Bomb" Ndou has apologized for his behaviour, following an attack on an official of Boxing South Africa and two referees at the Thohoyandou Town Hall last week Friday. The incident took place during the weigh-in of the Mulenzhe World Sports Promotion boxing tournament, which took place that evening. 

In an exclusive interview with Limpopo Mirror, Ndou confirmed that he had approached Boxing South Africa (BSA) official Archie Nyingwa to ask why he (Nyingwa) was removing Ndou from the tournament. Ndou said he was to face Zambian boxer Chimwemwe Chiotcha in a non-title, junior middleweight bout. Ndou said that he believed Nyingwa had removed him from the bill so that Nyingwa could put his own boxer, Ntuthuko Memela from Kwazulu Natal, on the programme to meet the Zambian fighter.

Ndou says he went to the town hall, ready for the weigh-in. "I then learnt that I was no longer allowed to continue with the fight, because of medical reasons cited by Nyigwa. After learning about this, I was heartbroken as BSA had asked for medical reports on two different occasions, which we submitted and they were clean,” Ndou added.

"After he failed to give me clear reasons for my withdrawal, I hit him with my stick.  Referees Thabo Spampool and Ben Ncapayi then started attacking me and I fought back," said Ndou.

According to a report in the Times Live, BSA said they had revoked Ndou's licence, based on the advice of two physicians. Ndou, however, vehemently denies this, adding that BSA could not have waited two days before the fight to make their findings known. "Nyingwa always had the ulterior motive of bringing his boxer, Memela, to the fight by removing me and I was not happy with that."

The promoter, Mpho Khorommbi, also confirmed that he had only been informed that Ndou could not fight on Wednesday evening, two days before the fight. “Unfortunately, I could not take the telephone communication as genuine, as we must rely on written communication in serious issues like this," said Khorommbi.

Khorommbi also added that they were forced to rope in Memela to replace Ndou to avoid the fruitless expense of paying Chiotcha, who was supposed to be paid even without throwing a punch as he had signed to come to South Africa. Ndou insists that the arrival of Memela was pre-planned as there was no way a boxer could be roped in within 72 hours before the fight.

Ndou also confirmed that he appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court on charges of assault to do grievous bodily harm. He was released on R1 000 bail and the case was postponed to 15 September. "I don't want to talk much about this issue. I just want to apologize to BSA, my fans and every South African in particular about my bad behaviour. I hope that they will forgive me. I also want to focus on this court case first. Maybe after this I will be able to have an opportunity to fight for the last time, so that I can bid a good farewell to my fans," said Ndou, who has a record of 45 fights, with five losses.

His wins include more than 30 fights with knock-outs. Ndou is the only South African boxer who fought Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Date:08 August 2016

By: Ndivhuwo Musetha

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