Boxing Info: Lovemore Ndou Will Enforce Malignaggi Rematch Clause

Lovemore “Black Panther” Ndou has a simple message for IBF super lightweight world champion Paul Malignaggi and his promoter Lou DiBella, “Don’t forget our rematch clause.”

35 year-old Ndou who is originally from South Africa and now lives in Sydney, lost the IBF world title to Malignaggi on points on June 16 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, USA.

“That was an optional world title defense. I didn’t have to fight Paul Malignaggi,” said Ndou. “What concerns me is that Malignaggi and his promoter Lou DiBella seem to have no interest whatsoever in honouring our contract which contained a guaranteed rematch clause if I lost the fight.

“The last few weeks all I have read is a whole lot of names being considered for Malignaggi’s next fight, but none of them has been me. I signed the contract to fight Malignaggi in good faith and I don’t want to have to go to court to enforce it, but I will if I have to. I’m not going away and this problem is not going to fix itself. DiBella knows I have a contracted rematch clause and if Malignaggi has not been told about it, he is being kept in the dark. If I was him I’d be asking, “what else haven’t I been told about my own career?’”

Ndou has been training daily and sparring regularly and is ready to accept the rematch with Malignaggi as soon as DiBella schedules the fight.

“I have said before that I wasn’t happy with the style of the fight the referee allowed against Malignaggi, not letting me work on the inside,” said Ndou. “But I know the adjustments I need to make to change the result around in the rematch. Throughout my career people have written me off after a loss and I have always come back better. The “Black Panther’ is not finished yet!”