Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Reigning WBO Africa Welterweight Champion and MTC Sunshine protégé Mike Shonena has taken a giant leap towards a world title bout.
The Namibian pro fighter has improved his world rating from number 11 to number 8 in the WBO’s June ratings released this week. The yet-to-taste-defeat Shonena boasts 12 fights under his belt in the welterweight division.
The WBO welterweight division is very competitive and now has Terence Crawford as the incumbent champion after he saw off Jeff Horn.
A significant number of high profile boxers are also in line to challenge Crawford, led by Jessie Vargas and Adrien Broner, but Shonena should keep on improving fight by fight and his handler believes his big break is just around the corner.
“Once you are world rated anything is possible. We have a plan for him going forward and are extremely excited as he has improved month by month,” said Shonena’s delighted trainer and promoter, Nestor ‘Sunshine’ Tobias.
In other boxing news, Walter Kautondokwa remains firmly at number 3 spot with positive developments expected in the middleweight division following the recent order by the IBF for a purse bid between WBO rated number 1 Daniel Jacobs and WBO rated number 5 Sergey Derevyanchenko for the vacant world IBF title.
The two boxers are both rated number 1 and 2 respectively by the IBF, whilst dethroned world champion Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses comes in at number 9 in the lightweight division.
Another protégé of the Sunshine stable, Jeremiah Nakathila, is ranked at number 5 and is waiting in anticipation for the fight between number 1 and number 2 for the vacant world title.