By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK
Namibian boxing reached another milestone with local boxer Junias Amunyela being billed as one of the under cards for the much-anticipated WBA Junior Lightweight World title fight in London, United Kingdom this Friday.
The 25-year Namibian Junior Lightweight boxer will slug it out with undefeated British boxer Paul Appleby who boasts an impressive record of 10 wins from 10 bouts in the paid ranks while Amunyela is not far off the mark with nine victories and a single defeat to his credit from the same number of fights under his belt.
Amunyela goes into the fight with a bruised ego – having bitten the dust in his last fight against Zimbabwean boxer Peter Pambeni at the Ongwediva Trade Fair Centre in November last year.
According to well known boxing promoter Nestor Tobias who also doubles up as Amunyela’s trainer and manager, his boxer is in good shape and has been training hard in the last couple of months in anticipation of his low key fight which was to have taken place in Bloemfontein last weekend.
However, the deal fell through at the last minute and his camp remains tightlipped and refused to be drawn into revealing the reasons that led to Amunyela’s grounding.
Tobias will accompany the boxer to the United Kingdom and the pair will be flying out of the country later tonight.
While in London, Tobias will be sitting around the table with boxing heavyweights from the World Boxing Association (WBA) to tie up loose ends over the prospects of staging the eagerly-awaited WBA Lightweight World title bout between Namibia’s Paulus “Hitman” Moses (official challenger) and Jose Alfaro (title holder) at a yet to be decided venue.
Besides discussing the technical aspects for the envisaged bout, the gathering will also seek to set up a date and venue for the purse bid and Tobias is upbeat about Namibia’s prospects of landing the big fish.
“We have already put our ducks in the row and many sponsors have given us the thumbs up to bring this historic event to Namibian shores so all that is left is for me and my United Kingdom based agent Phillepe Fondu to table a serious bid,” boasted the boxing guru.
The veteran boxing promoter believes Namibia has great potential to host events of such magnitude and applauded corporate partners NamPower, Air Namibia and Engen for their unwavering contribution towards the development of boxing.
Meanwhile, Tobias confirmed that Jason “Taks” Naule will be defending his WBA Pan-African Junior Welterweight title against South African challenger Kaizer Mabuza at the Windhoek Country Club Resort and Casino on the 20th of next month.