While many Gauteng promoters struggle, Aquila Boxing takes its next tournament to the Sandton Convention Centre

Most Gauteng boxing promoters struggle to get any form of TV coverage, and battle to fill even half the auditorium with spectators at their tournaments.

The equation is simple: the more empty seats there are in the house, the harder it is to get any sort of attention from the two television houses, SABC and SuperSport.

Golden Gloves, SA’s premier and longest-running professional boxing promotion company, founded in 1977 by veteran attorney and promoter Rodney Berman, strongly holds its own.

The company enjoys 100% attendance at their box-and-dine events and maintains the loyalty of SuperSport.

Larry Wainstein’s Boxing 5 Promotions did well at Booysens Gym, regularly filling up the venue that can hold 250 people. But he no longer stages fights there.

Geraldine Lerena made an immediate impact with Aquila Boxing Promotions (ABP), of which she is co-founder and CEO.

She has drawn big crowds at The Galleria in Sandton — that can hold up to 1,200 spectators — where she started staging fights in April last year. She has also attracted a number of companies to back her up, including World Sports Betting, Tigris Wealth, JCP Steel, Meat World, South Side Hard Soda, Knox Hydration, and Little Tuscany.

All four of the tournaments she staged last year were sold out, and SuperSport serves as the official live broadcast partner for her tournaments.

Her next tournament, dubbed “The Return”, at the Sandton Convention Centre on November 7, is already sold out.

Lerena runs ABP with her husband, former IBO cruiserweight and WBC bridgerweight world champ, Kevin “Two Guns” Lerena, who stated: “We are not just promoting boxing. We are building the future of SA boxing one step at a time.”

“Two Guns” will headline “The Return” event with an international non-title fight against Scott Forrest. He is dropping down to the cruiserweight division to launch a comeback campaign with the goal of becoming a three-time world champion. He is ranked five by the WBC at cruiserweight.

But most eyes will be on the eagerly awaited scrap between Jarred “Mr Hollywood” Silverman and Stephanus Pypers, which was originally planned for June 25, but which Pypers had to pull out of after suffering an orbital fracture during sparring.

At the time, Silverman chastised him, saying: “They don’t understand how much they set us back when they pull out of a fight.”

But Pypers was adamant: “I don’t know if he expected me to fight with a broken eye. Nothing has changed. We are still going to fight.”

The promotion company’s third tournament of the year will also feature Gary “G-Unit” van Staden, John “Section 29″ Bopape, Jason “El Rey” Medi, Simnikiwe “Nuclear Bomb” Bongco, Bonginkoisi “Mkhulu” Nhlapho and Tumelo Mphahlele.