WINDHOEK – Namibia’s leading boxing promoter Nestor Tobias yesterday said he is still hard at work trying to secure a rematch between the country’s former world title challenger Walter “The Executioner” Kautondokwa and Kazakhstan boxer Kanat Islam.
Last month, Kautondokwa suffered his second career defeat via a unanimous decision against the undefeated Islam during their WBO international middleweight title mega showdown at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The outcome of the fight triggered a huge clamor locally and internationally, with all three judges scoring the fight 99-92, 97-92 and 97-92 in favour of the hometown fighter. One of the judges, Marat Shalabayev only gave one round to the Namibian while scoring two sessions to a draw, both in the second half of the bout.
Kautondokwa and his handler Tobias, immediately after the fight, expressed their unhappiness with the outcome of the fight and vowed to approach the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) for recourse and a possible rematch between the two fighters.
At last month’s post-fight interview with international boxing site www.boxingscene.com, Tobias had indicated that he will not rest until a rematch is agreed upon by both camps.
“The whole experience (outcome of the fight) was just embarrassing. Such blatant corruption should never be allowed. We host a lot of big fights in Namibia and they will tell you we treat all our visitors with respect and dignity and importantly treat them fairly. What happened here should never be allowed because it kills the credibility of the sport. We will approach the WBO to investigate because their credibility is also put on the line as these judges represent them. Those crooked judges should not be allowed to ever score a fight again because they are an embarrassment to the sport. We want an immediate rematch; it doesn’t even matter where [it would take place]. Kanat should not be allowed to fight anybody in the meantime. That gives him another brand-new opportunity, but we don’t mind, this time we will knock him out cold so that we don’t leave this to chance,” Tobias indicated at the time.
Speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, the award-winning promoter maintained that he was still on course burning the midnight oil with the hope of securing a rematch at least by early next year.
“We have been in talks, I have been in touch with Islam’s American-based promoter. At the moment, I can’t disclose much but what I can tell you is that we are busy with the match and all parties have been in serious talks. In fact, just as you are calling me now, I was just on the phone with a Kazakh journalist also looking for updates around the fight. So, we are busy talking and my aim is to get Kautondokwa a rematch early next year. If any developments arise in weeks and months to come, I will definitely inform the public,” explained Tobias.