I was used, says humiliated Baby Jake

South Africa's favourite boxer, Baby Jake Matlala, claims he has been exploited as the well known black face of a BEE sham which has netted R20 million in five years.

Matlala's share though has been less than R200 000.

Now the pint-sized four-time world champion is taking legal action against promoter Branco Milenkovic for "all the money he is owed" and for using him as the face of his boxing promotions company.

In 2005, Matlala and Milenkovic became partners in a move hailed by the local boxing world as a "groundbreaking deal", which would elevate the standard of boxing in the country.

Matlala bought 28 percent shares in Milenkovic's company Branco Sport Productions (BSP). He would become a director and was charged with the marketing and development side of the promotion.

But it never came about.

Five years after Matlala signed on the dotted line, he has yet to see his name on the directorship papers or any of the spoils in his account.

This week Matlala told the Sunday Star about the humiliation he had suffered at the hands of Milenkovic for five years.

"He said he would give me a copy of the contract, but he never ever did. You know how I am, I trust people.

"He said we would work together. At the time I even asked him why he would want to work with me, as I knew nothing of promoting."

Although Matlala accompanied Milenkovic to many meetings, which always ended successfully, he was kept totally in the dark about the financial affairs.

"I would ask him for copies of the financial paperwork so that I could see how well we were doing and he would always say that he would e-mail them to me but that never, ever happened.

"So I don't know if what he says we got is actually what we got or if there is more to it."

In the time that Matlala and Milenkovic paired up they received sponsorship from the provincial governments of Gauteng, Western Cape, and North West.

"In the North West we clinched about R12m in sponsorship. We would speak to the directors general and the MECs of Sport."

Matlala also claims they got around R4m in the Western Cape. For his efforts in the company, Matlala would receive financial compensation of R50 000 or R60 000 at a time. Over the years, this has amounted to about R200 000.

"I regret joining Branco. He is rich because of the Baby Jake face. I opened doors for him. He used to give me the numbers of the MECs or DGs in Sport so that I could arrange meetings with them.

'The MECs would be excited to hear my voice and they would agree to have a meeting with us. This BEE thing is not always a good thing."

Matlala said at the end of each year, when they would send gifts to their sponsors, it was his face that would be on the gift packs.

"I never believed I would get rich in one day by becoming a promoter, but I did think I could progress. I have not progressed since I started working with Branco.

"I'm not in it for the money but I have a family to feed. I gave Branco the benefit of the doubt. But I cannot any more."

The pair have won several awards as a result of their partnership. They staged 10 tournaments last year, two of which were national title bouts, six International Boxing Federation bouts and two World Boxing Council title eliminators.

Milenkovic has refused to comment.

• This article was originally published on page 8 of The Star on November 21, 2009