The only thing standing between Namibia’s featherweight boxer Sakaria ‘Desert Storm’ Lukas and his dream of taking a shot at the world title is Mexican fighter Isaac Avelar, and tonight both boxers will take to the ring to settle the debate.
Lukas, who remains undefeated after 23 professional fights, will tonight square off against Avelar in a 10-round super featherweight fight at the AT&T Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas, USA and the fight will be the undercard of the Errol Spence Jnr vs Danny Garcia for the IBF, WBC welterweight unification world title bout.

The 36-year-old Lukas, whose fight tonight will mark his American debut, last fought in December last year when he stopped Malawi’s Raston Kayira in the third round of their six-round featherweight contest held at the Windhoek After School Centre.
A possible win tonight for the Namibian will see him improve his ranking on the IBF and WBO ratings and will also see him move closer to a likely world title shot next year, but all those probabilities depend on him beating the 23-year-old Avelar, who boasts a record of 16 wins and only two losses from 18 fights in the paid ranks.

Touching on the readiness of Lukas and his overall preparation for the mega fight, Imms Moses – who is Lukas’ trainer – said they are ready and looking forward to the fight, adding that he expects Lukas to win the fight in a fashionable way.
“We landed in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday ahead of the fight. As we all know things have changed completely, we have been in the bubble and were not allowed to move around till we get the Covid-19 test results back. We are looking forward to another challenge on Friday. The fight will be live on the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on FOX PPV. This fight will put Lukas at No. 2 ranking on the IBF as well as WBO rankings, and we are expecting Lukas to win in style so he can get a world title shot early next year,” said a confident Moses.
- mkambukwe@nepc.com.na