The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
BOXING returns to the resort town of Victoria Falls this Saturday with pugilists from across the country set to converge on Shoestring Backpackers where over 25 bouts are on schedule.
The bill title “Clash of the Champions” will see boxers from Victoria Falls, Bulawayo, Gweru, Hwange and Mavingo taking part in the extravaganza.
Victoria Falls Boxing Academy founder, Tobias Muposiwa said they are using the tournament to give local boxers a time in the ring while allowing the province to select pugilists for the National Youth Games.
He said they have both upcoming and established athletes taking part in the bouts. “We last had boxing action here last year and we decided to take advantage of the province’s need to select a Youth Games squad and host the event.
“Calls have been growing louder from the fans for us to host such an event but we are constrained by lack of funds but this time around we managed to get some funding to enable us to get a stage from Bulawayo,” said Muposiwa.
Among junior boxers set to battle it out include promising 11-year-old Prince Urengwa who will battle it out against Joel Mangombe while in the bantam weight division there is Zibusiso Ncube and the heavyweight section has seen boxers such as Phineas Makuvadza registering to take part along with Anele Bafana and Silethosenkosi Moyo.
In the female section, Monica Mnkandla is among the women boxers that would be taking part in the event with more expected to register before the deadline on Thursday.
Muposiwa said they hope the bouts will take out the ring rust out of their boxers and allow them to gauge themselves against local fellow boxers.
“The academy now has 32 boxers and we are hoping to come up with quality fighters out of those. We would be hosting more games had we not been facing challenges with the ring which we have to borrow from Hwange or Bulawayo,” he said.
