WeeklySA_AdminPATIENCE: Top female referee bides her time and hopes things will get back to normal sooner
By Pule Mokhine
The staging of world title fights in South Africa may be reeling from a huge sucker punch inflicted by the prevalence of the Covid -19 pandemic which makes it impossible for big tournaments to come back to these shores.
But for the internationally acclaimed referee and judge Sylvia Mokaila, it is a matter of exercising patience to wait and see when the dust will settle before she gets back into the ring to do what she does best – resume her task of officiating at the highest level once again.
The 46 year-old Mokaila, who hails from a tiny village of Lomanyaneng village in Mmabatho in the Northwest, holds a rare honour of being the country’s female official to handle bouts under the banner of two of the top world sanctioning boxing bodies. They are International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the International Boxing Organization (IBO). She is also counts among SA’s best officials..
The IBF is based in New Jersey, US and boasts some of the finest officials, champions and fights globally. The sanctioning is the world’s second biggest sanctioning body globally after the World Boxing Council. The IBO headquarters are in Florida, also in the US.
Mokaila has officiated in international events as referee and judge in countries such as Mexico, US, Germany, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo.
She has made history in the entire continent when the IBO appointed her fight supervisor when Rowan Campbell and Patrick Mukala fought for the IBO Africa supermiddleweight title at Emperors Rowan Palace, Boksburg in August 2019. This came about when the country commemorated Women’s Month.
The last time Mokaila was involved in the IBF championship bout was in East London in February last year.
“ I did three IBF championships last year before the country closed its doors to international boxing and other activities because of the pandemic. It has been a difficult time though for one to be out of the ring for so long because I am already used to separating fighters whenever they are competing inside the ring. To be honest I miss the big boxing arena.
Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. There is nothing that one can do at the moment except to pray each and every day for things to be back to normal,” she says
Mokaila, who works at the department of arts, sports and recreation, has also handled many SA title bouts during her career as referee and judge.
As an IBF official, she explains, she is required by the sanctioning body to pay $250 about R3 776) a year for her license while she forks out R150 to do fights for Boxing SA (BSA).
With action on the big stage being scarce these days, Mokaila does not sit on her laurel though.
“To keep my mind sharp as an official, I always check the rules and score fights whenever I am watching international and world title fights on TV. This motivates me a lot because my scorecards always tally with that of other judges in charge when results of the bouts are announced at the end of the showdowns,” she explains
Mokaila distinguished herself in 2017 by being honoured as best female ring official during Boxing SA awards in Durban.
“This was one of the proudest moments of my career,” she says.
Her amateur career took off in 1996 where her skills were honed by late veteran boxing administrators Kenneth Ramaboa and Stanley Sono, and ex-national junior welterweight title holder Norman “ Pangaman” Sekgapane. The latter passed on in 2018.
