Name: Immanuel Ndapewa Moses
Date of Birth: 11/11/1981
Place of Birth: Tsumeb
Marital Status: Single
Nickname: AC
Car: Mercedes Benz Coupe
Memorable moments of your career? Being part of all three world champions, Namibia has far produced (Paulus Moses, Paulus Ambunda, Julius Indongo), also making Ambunda the IBO super bantamweight world champion in 2018 under AC Promotions.
Who is the biggest influence on your career? Floyd Mayweather.
Favourite local or international boxer? All local boxers are my favourite – and internationally, Floyd Mayweather remains my favourite.
Your favourite boxing promoter? Nestor Tobias
Apart from boxing, which other sports do you most enjoy? Soccer, tennis and basketball.
After parting ways with the MTC Nestor Sunshine Academy some years ago, you went on to establish your own stable, called AC Boxing Promotions, which has been promoting big fights. How has that journey been for you? It was always my dream to do my own thing; I learnt a lot in boxing from working with all these guys; I can’t mention names because everybody has contributed. I’m very thankful to everyone who has been part of my career to this day. I met a lot of people, especially during my overseas trips to the USA and if you have been following my rise, you will agree that I took a lot of risks and spent a lot of money to get to this point. I have an advantage because I’m young and energetic, so I see myself on top of the game. I work with top guys in the game, such as Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), Top Rank, Matchroom and Golden Boys Promotions. I also met a very great partner, Scott Patrick Farell, the CEO of Global Boxing Star.
Besides being a renowned boxing and fitness trainer, you have now also branched out to become a boxing promoter. Why did you choose to venture into promoting fights? I launched a promotion company because local promoters in Namibia only promote boxers from their gyms – and in our gym, we have great talents and we can’t let those boys suffer or be taken as opponents on short-notice fights to make other guys look good. I want to sign boxers from different stables and promote them without demanding they join my gym but only for them to fight under AC Promotions. There is a difference between our boxing academy and our promotion company.
Since you became a promoter and established your academy, you have worked with some of Namibia’s top veterans and upcoming fighters such as Paulus Ambunda, Julius Indongo, Sakaria Lukas and youngsters such as Mathias Hamunyela and Flame Nangolo – to mention but a few. How has the experience been for you as an upcoming promoter? I came to learn that boxing is not as expensive as I thought; you can do it even if you don’t have sponsorship. You just need to have a sharp mind and a tremendous team behind you. It’s not about the money; it’s about what you do with the money. Working with all these guys has been fantastic, especially when they joined me at AC Boxing during a time when everyone thought I was crazy to open a boxing gym.
The general public and many boxing pundits have been calling for unity and collaboration among local boxing stables. Do you think local boxing promoters and stables are united and working together? Or maybe more still needs to be done in that space? They are not working together as it looks in the media; competition is getting tough and it’s like when you are the only child and your parents decide to give birth to four more siblings, you, as a firstborn, is forced to learn how to share the love with your siblings and understand that you are not alone anymore. Boxing is growing and I am loving the competition; as long as we play the ball and not the man.
What does the future hold for AC Boxing Promotions as far as staging big fights and taking Namibian boxing to the world? The future looks bright and I’m confident we will get sponsorship in the near future – and if we don’t get, we will continue to do it the same way we have been doing it; remember, we still have fights scheduled in the USA – that’s for Indongo and Sakaria Lukas. We have an event scheduled for September/November; we are just waiting for the authorities to give us a go-ahead
Are you satisfied with the involvement and work being done by the Namibia Professional Boxing and Wrestling Control Board to advance local boxing? I can’t say much because the pandemic took over too early on the arrival of the new leadership, but I have done one fight under the new board and it was very smooth working with them. Sometimes, it’s not about the boxing board; the main problem is with promoters who are not organised. If you submit all your documents on time, you won’t have any issues with the board.
Your ambitions for 2020 and beyond? The year 2020 was just another year to rediscover ourselves.