…‘they have a winning mentality’ – Ekandjo
WINDHOEK – Just over a year ago, local communications giant, MTC announced a new sponsorship deal for the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy to the tune of N$2.5 million per annum over the next 3 years.
While many questioned the move Tim Ekandjo, Chief Human Capital & Corporate Affairs Officer at MTC admitted that the decision and choice of sponsorship was not just timely, but also spot on. “The MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy is a worthy investment, worthy of our partnership because they have a winning mentality, they compete with the best and replicate their success and importantly, represent Namibia well against the rest of the world. It is solely because of this academy that Namibia is rated amongst the best boxing nations,” Ekandjo said. “When you are in the branding and marketing business, you will begin to appreciate what excellent national brand ambassadors these boxers are, worthy of our praise. They are in the ring for 12 rounds live on various international sports TV channels watched by millions of people around the world and sometimes get international viewers and spectators to hear about Namibia for the very first time. The first question they will ask is ‘where is he from?’ – that in my view deserves national praise from those marketing our country as a preferred tourism destination.”
Ekandjo said he is pleased to see the latest World Boxing Organizations (WBO) rankings and to see that boxers from the MTC Sunshine Academy feature prominently amongst the best in the world. Vikapita ‘Beastmaster’ Meroro is currently ranked 3rd in the world in the Cruiserweight division where Mario Huck (Germany) is the current world champion and Firat Arslan (Germany) rated 1st with Krzystot Glowacki (Poland) 2nd. “Meroro is the only African in the top 10 in this division and he is in a very good position to challenge for the world title soon and that is remarkable,” boasted Ekandjo. A Namibian also features in the Welterweight division, a division considered the toughest with the world’s best pound for pound boxers such as Timothy Bradley, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. “I am proud to see Bethel ‘Tyson’ Uushona right up there among the world’s finest rated, 2nd only 1 place behind Manny Pacquiao (Philippines), who currently holds the WBO International title. Timothy Bradley (USA) is the current champion in this division.”
According to Ekandjo, Tyson stands a very good chance to become the mandatory challenger to the world title now that Timothy Bradley’s fight against Manny Pacquiao has been confirmed for April 12, 2014. In the Lightweight division, Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses is ranked 4th with Ricky Burns (UK) the current title holder, with Terrence Crawford (USA) 1st, Raymundo Beltran (Mexico) 2nd and Dennis Shafikor (Russia) 3rd. Hitman is the incumbent international champion in this division and is therefore in pole position for a shot at the world title. In the Bantamweight division, Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda is rated 5th in the world. Tomoki Kameda (Japan) is the current champion with Punglung Sor Singyu (Thailand) 1st, Daniel Rosas (Mexico) 2nd, Randy Caballero (USA) 3rd and Ryosuke Iwasa (Japan) 4th. Tomoki Kameda is due to fight mandatory challenger Punglung Sor Singyu in due course and thereafter, he will be obliged to honour his rematch against ‘The Rock’ which gives the Namibian another crack at the world title. “I am making reference to the above world rankings to highlight how proud we should be as a nation, and quite frankly, we need to give credit where it is due, because these guys are great national ambassadors flying our flag proudly across the boxing world.”
He further emphasized that when a company makes such a big investment towards a particular sports code, it does so with certain expectations, and expressed satisfaction that he can now happily confirm that the academy has impressed MTC all the way with its professionalism, various accolades, and ability to attract large crowds to every event and international performance.
“I am therefore confident that if things go according to plan, we might soon have four world champions across the different divisions all from Namibia, which is deserving of our praise and support as a nation,” Ekandjo concluded.
By Staff Reporter