Kauyaca said he is looking forward to the opportunity and is excited about the chance to train and fight in New Zealand. Photo: Facebook / Drua Kauyaca
A Fijian champion boxer has been thrown a lifeline by an Auckland-based boxing promotion to base himself out of New Zealand after being stripped of his Fiji cruiserweight title this month.
Alivereti Kauyaca has been signed up by CTP Boxing Promotions and will be based in Auckland for at least the next 12 months to train and fight out of the City of Sails, his new trainer and manager Farmaan Ali confirmed to RNZ Pacific on Tuesday.
Kauyaca was stripped off his boxing title by the Boxing Commission of Fiji, after being caught with illegal hand-wrapping before his fight in a boxing promotion to defend his title in Suva.
Ali said CTP Boxing Promotions owner Craig Thomson has done over 100 boxing promotions in New Zealand and has helped plan and promote many top boxers from New Zealand .
"He is excited to help Alivereti [Kauyaca]," Ali said, who will prepare the fighter for proposed fights May.
"Craig [Thompson] has helped build many boxers in New Zealand like Adrian Tahia and Gunnar Jackson for instance. He is a good friend and I work closely with him here in New Zealand.
"At my request he agreed without hesitation to promote Alivereti here in New Zealand and overseas."
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Kauyaca is grateful
Kauyaca said he is looking forward to the opportunity and is excited about the chance to train and fight in New Zealand.
"I am grateful to the promoter Mr Thomson for agreeing to promote me in New Zealand, which I know will develop my career," he told RNZ Pacific.
He said Fijian boxers do not get such opportunities to train and fight overseas.
"The local boxers here in Fiji and I have agreed to go to Auckland and be based there in a professional environment so I can work on developing my career and achieving the targets we have set with the promoter and my trainer and manager.
"Farmaan (Ali) has been helping me alot and he had guided my with advise from New Zealand in my past fights.
He said he is ready to leave Fiji to make use of the opportunity been presented to me.
Crossing the 'limits of stupidity'
Ali said he and Thomson have agreed to help Kauyaca following the events of three weeks ago where the Boxing Commission of Fiji stripped him off his cruiserweight boxing title for an incident that was unrelated to his performance in the ring.
"The drama surrounding the hand-wrap and the way in which the Boxing Commission of Fiji has handled the situation (laughable) has caused great embarrassment and distress to Alivereti. They crossed the limits of stupidity," Ali said.
Kauyaca, who won on points over Fiji-based Ghanaian boxer Joseph Kwadjo on 3 March, was reportedly "caught in the act" of using illegal wraps in his change room.
But the wraps were changed after BCF inspectors checked the boxers, as per boxing regulations, and the boxer wore legal wraps for the fight.
However, BCF chairman Adi Narayan said in a statement they decided to strip Kauyaca off the title anway.
"So that [illegal wrapping] was not used. Social media says he used it. That is wrong. That's fake news," Narayan said.
Ali said the BCF had made the wrong decision because they had penalised Kauyaca even after he had changed the wraps and wore the right ones for the fight.
"They contradicted themselves with that decision," he said.
"Looks like they do not know the rules of the sport because the inspector's job is to ensure that boxers use the legal wraps so if they find someone not using that they will order the wraps removed and legal ones used instead.
"But they went ahead and penalised Kauyaca even after he had changed the wraps and used the legal ones instead."
Alifereti Kauyaca, red gloves, beat Joseph Kwajdo on 3 March. Photo: Screengrab / Fiji Sun
Way forward
He had been discussing the move with Kauyaca and Thomson, as the way forward for the boxer, adding he has been assisting the former Queen Victoria School student in his career, eventhough he was not physically present in Fiji.
"I have been helping Kauyaca with his fitness programs, fight plans since his fight with Sebastian Singh via video calls and phone conversations. He beat Singh and then with my guidance he beat Kwadjo," he said.
"Kauyaca did not have a trainer in Fiji. He trained on his own without me being physically present there to train him and he beat all these opponents.
"Our plan was to beat easy boxers like Sebastian Singh, Joseph Kwadjo and maybe fight a few more easy fights before moving to New Zealand and start taking on big names. Now that he will travel to train with me and fight here, he will take on some top Kiwi opponents."
He said promoter Thomson is keen to get Kauyaca to fight for either the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Organisation or International Boxing Federation regional titles.
"These are the most sought after boxing bodies and we are happy with his plans. Our plan is to go up in ranking to world number 10 by early next year," Ali said.
"With him being present here for training and fighting top boxers, it is achievable. The best is yet to come from Kauyaca."