WINDHOEK – Former World Boxing Organisation (WBO) Africa Welterweight champion, Tyson Ushona, has finally come to terms with last weekend’s 8th round technical knockout (TKO) defeat against Dario Pucheta, saying he was overconfident and underestimated the hard punching Argentinean.
“To be quite honest, I was dominating that fight right from the beginning and I was going to win it until that fateful punch caught me from nowhere. I was too overconfident and since I was dominating, I wanted to give my fans a great show and decided to go for a knockout but unfortunately I was caught in the heat of excitement with a unexpected strong punch,” reminisced a distressed Ushona.
The boxer however refused to be dampened by the defeat and insisted he wants a rematch against the Argentinean. “I know I can beat that boy (Pucheta) and I was the better fighter on that night until that punch caught me, that’s why I want an instant rematch. I don’t need time to recover or gain confidence, I’m already confident and just want to fight that boy again,’’ he further insisted.
Ushona, who was rated No.2 in the world by the WBO and was ready for a world title shot prior to last weekend’s defeat, will now have to return to the drawing board and work his way back to the pinnacle of the world welterweight rankings as he lost his status following the defeat.
On the possibilities of a rematch, promoter Nestor Tobias said they will explore various options on how and when to get the desired rematch but admitted it will not be an easy process because Pucheta’s camp will then be calling all the shots, such as how much money they want for the rematch and when they want the fight to happen.
Meanwhile, Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses, who convincingly retained his WBO International Lightweight title after trouncing Brazilian opponent Josenilson Dos Santos via a 6th round knockout to boost his chances of getting a much needed shot at the world title, had nothing but words of sympathy for stable mate Ushona.
Hitman urged Ushona to dust himself off and focus more on making a much stronger return to the ring. “When I heard that Tyson had just lost his fight, I knew I had to put up a great performance to win my fight and make our fans happy, I was truly prepared to die in that ring. But as for you Tyson, these things happen in boxing. Great boxers such as Lennox Lewis, Dingaan Thobela and many others all went through such situations but they recovered, came back stronger and even won world titles upon their return,” said Hitman.
Wilbeforce ‘Black Mamba’ Shihepo and Sacky ‘Izinyoka’ Shikukutu both expressed satisfaction with their victories in last weekend’s bonanza, saying they are focusing on maintaining their winning streaks and further improving their rankings world-wide.