WINDHOEK – Namibia’s leading boxing promoter, Nestor ‘Sunshine’ Tobias, has laughed off suggestions and murmurings from local boxing enthusiasts who are crying foul in accusing Tobias of short-changing them by importing out-of-their-depth opposition from neighbouring countries to trade leather against local boxers.
Tobias is defending his decision to pit local boxers against boxers armed with patchy records from countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda, among others.
Last weekend’s lukewarm showing by Zimbabwean middleweight boxer Brian Mwando left the crowd fuming after the loud-mouth Zimbabwean offered very little resistance in his non-title 10 rounder against his Namibian counterpart Walter Kautondokwa. The latter suffered a first round knockout and immediately lost further interest in the bout.
“That’s the irony of boxing, Walter is a knockout specialist and is capable of sending any opponent to the canvass at any given time. Even the great Mike Tyson used to beat the lights out of his opponents within seconds of the start and people enjoyed it, so I don’t really know what our people are complaining about because that’s what professional boxing is all about,” says Tobias.
Approached for comment, Namibian boxing supremo Kelly Nghixulifwa says although they are a bit concerned about the quality of some of the visiting boxers, there is another element to the whole scenario.
“It’s a combination of a number of factors. Obviously we are worried about the sub-standard opposition but it should also be understood that those boxers’ patchy records were recorded during the infant years of their professional careers, while some of them have won most of their last couple of bouts.
“On the other hand, we are also looking at the development of local boxers by giving them regular competition against light opponents to gain the much needed experience.”