Vetyeka in scrap over dual crown

DUNCAN Village boxer Simpiwe Vetyeka’s run-ins with the IBO has finally exploded into the open after he announced that he was relinquishing its featherweight title ahead of his highly anticipated clash against Filipino Nonito Donaire in Macau on May 31.

Vetyeka will now defend the WBA crown only against the Filipino after succumbing to pressure from the IBO to also put its crown on the line or risk getting stripped.

Vetyeka won the IBO featherweight crown with a shocking 12th round stoppage of Indonesian Daud Yordan in Jakarta in April last year.

The win paved the way for him to face Yordan’s compatriot and previously unbeaten Chris John whom he dethroned with a six-round stoppage to snatch his WBA crown in Australia last December and become the first boxer in the country to become a dual world champion.

However, relations with the IBO began to sour when Vetyeka entered the fight against John without his title despite the fight being billed as a unification clash.

IBO president Ed Levine called Vetyeka’s camp and inquired why he did not enter the ring with the IBO belt.

Vetyeka’s manager Andile Sidinile explained that the fighter’s previous trainer Nick Durandt had refused to hand him the belt claiming the Duncan Village boxer still owed him undisclosed money.

“Ed was not happy at all but there was nothing we could do when Nick did not want to give us the IBO belt,” Sidinile recalled.

Now with Vetyeka set to face Donaire, Levine again discovered that no arrangement has been made to also defend the IBO crown together with the WBA title which will be at stake.

Lezine inquired from Vetyeka’s camp why the title will not be at stake.

“We explained to the IBO that the fight is organised by Top Rank and they do not want to pay the IBO sanctioning fee so there is nothing we can do,” Sidinile added.

Sidinile pleaded with the IBO to allow Vetyeka’s fight against Donaire to go ahead without its title and committed himself to ensuring that Vetyeka defends the IBO crown afterwards.

Already former IBF junior-featherweight champion Takalani Ndlovu was mentioned as the opponent for Vetyeka after the Donaire fight with Sidinile undertaking to promote it.

But the IBO could not budge as Levine insisted that the title should be at stake against Donaire or Vetyeka would be stripped.

“We had no choice but to vacate the title rather than the ignominy of being stripped and although we are sad to give up the IBO title because it opened the door for us to fight John there is nothing else we can do.”

It is the second time Vetyeka loses the IBO crown without defending it in the ring after he also forfeited the bantamweight version of the crown due to weight issues in 2010.

However, Sidinile feels that the gamble to dump the IBO in favour of a WBA title defence against Donaire will pay dividends when Vetyeka beats the Filipino.

“Vetyeka will be at the centre of lucrative offers if he beats Donaire and this gamble will pay off,” he said.