VULTURES circled around the WBO Pan-Africa super-middleweight champion Tineyi Maridzo after his victory over South African Michael Schulz on July 1.

Of the R45 000 cash purse he was supposed to bring home he only got less than R20 000 in a well-orchestrated scam.

Maridzo delivered the killer blow that floored Michael “Mikey” Schultz in the fight that South African Nick Durandt’s Boxing World and Rainbow Boxing Promotions jointly promoted.

But after his successes in the ring many would have thought that “Marstak Power” as he is affectionately known by his fans would begin to live like a king.

When Standardsport paid him a visit at his home, Maridzo and his family were just about to go to Mbare to board a bus to his rural home in Gutu.

The pugilist was singing a sad song of how, despite putting his life in danger in the ring, mystery still surrounds his purse money from that bout.

“Anything involving money is not yet clear at the moment,” Maridzo said.
“The money I was supposed to get in the initial contract and the amount I got after the fight are totally different.

“There are a lot of questions that are begging for answers right now because I cannot say my family is happy right now.
“I do not have a car to transport my family to wherever they want to go, but I just came back from defending my belt.

“I do not have new sofas, but I just came back from defending my belt. I do not have a new radio or television, but I just returned from defending my belt,” Maridzo said while pointing to the old furniture and electrical gadgets in his father’s living room.

“I would like the people to know how much I fought for in South Africa, but there are some issues that need to be sorted out between me and the board.

“There are a lot of things which happened behind the scenes after the fight and I first need to sit down with them and talk.

“In the end people are going to say where is all the money going when they don’t know what really took place?”

According to Maridzo, the Zimbabwe National Board of Boxing and Wrestling Control (ZNBBWC) led by Richard Hondo seconded Durandt who is also Shultz’s trainer as his agent.

“How can the board appoint Durandt as the boxing agent for Zimbabwean boxers?” Maridzo asked. “When I went to South Africa I was asked to pay him 10% of my purse.”

“Even if I didn’t go far in school having only gone as far as grade seven it’s clear who should be paying Durandt here. The board appointed him and they are the ones who should be paying him.

“I had no choice but to give him the money he was asking for because he threatened to cancel all the payments so that I was not going to get even a cent.

“I was in their country and the whites control everything in South Africa, it’s their country; there was nothing I could do.
“Back home the board (ZNBBWC) is also asking for its 10% levy and this means I am now paying out double since I have paid Durandt already.”

He said the ZNBBWC secretary Patrick Mukondiwa failed to do anything to stop the South Africans from “extorting” money from him.

“What pains me is that Patrick (Mukondiwa) was there when all this was happening and he did not try to intervene in any way,” he said.

“I asked him to intervene, but he kept on watching the people who were dismantling the ring while these guys were taking away my money.”

When contacted for a comment Mukondiwa said: “I am not able to comment at the moment because we are currently doing our own investigation as a board to know what really happened. If you can get back to me next week I think we would have completed our investigation and I can give you a full statement.”

The residents of Warren Park 1 in Harare where Maridzo lives might think that the pugilist has been irresponsible with his earnings, 25 days after retaining the continent’s biggest boxing prize.

They notice with surprise that he and his wife Eunice together with daughter Tadiwanashe (two) and 11-month old son Brendon still live at his parents’ house in the suburb.

BY NIGEL MATONGORERE

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