Four local professional boxers are expected to fight in Namibia at the end of next month. Bidding to improve their records, the four boxers, who are under the Bond Promotions, will take on their Namibian counterparts on the 30th of November. Speaking in an interview, promoter Bond Ngubula of Bond Promotions said the boxers will be going to fight at the invitation of the Namibians.
“What we did is as the promoter, I sent the names of boxers under my stable to promoters in different countries like Namibia and South Africa so that when they have fights they invite my boxers. That is how the Namibians got the names and invited us over,” Ngubula said.
According to Ngubula, the four boxers selected by the Namibians to fight are Peter Pelane, Tefo Letshikgwane, Gomotsang Gaasite and Moabi Mothiba. While the trio of Letshikgwane, Gaasite and Mothiba, who are former national team amateur boxers will fight four rounds each, the less known Pelane will fight six rounds.
“Of the quartet, Pelane, by virtue of having fought in at least six professional bouts is the most experienced, hence he is fighting in a six rounds bout. The other three are new to professional boxing and thus they will fight bouts of four rounds each,” Ngubula explained.
According to the promoter, Pelane, who started his professional career while studying in South Africa, will take on Japhet Utoni in the Fly Weight (50.8 kg) category while Letshikgwane will fight Johannes Baluka Simon in the bantam weight (53.5 kg) category. Gaasite on the other hand will take on Emmanuel Mungandjela in the junior Welter Weight (63.5kg) category while Mothiba will face off against Mike Shonena.
With professional boxing still in its infancy, Ngubula said the aim of the fights is to help local boxers build repute and records so as to eventually put them on line to compete with the best.
“At this moment, we are not thinking of title fights or anything similar. All we need is for our boxers to have as many fights and we will maybe consider trying for continental titles after they have had at least 15 professional fights,” Ngubula said. He said it may even take at least three years before Botswana’s new professional boxers can consider the title fights.
In a bid to accelerate the development of the local boxers, the local promoter said if possible, he would have liked to see a professional tournament held every second month in the coming year.
“My wish is to have each and every of the boxers in my stable to have at least four fights per year. Unfortunately, this is not possible as there are not many promoters locally who can help arrange for such tournaments,” he explained.
Ngubula said having many promoters would go a long way in advancing the course of professional boxing as it would create much needed competition.
