‘Boxing in Bulawayo not dead and buried’

BULAWAYO boxing coach and administrator Anderson Sibanda says the sport is not dead and buried in the region.

He has welcomed the staging of the Kuzana Sport and Creatives Economy Expo Zimbabwe (SCEEZ) boxing tournament set for Friday.

To be held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Grounds Hall Three, the event is part of the main programme in which the other is football, a match between Highlanders and Dynamos at

Barbourfields Stadium next Sunday set to bring the curtains down to the expo’s four days of activity to include symposiums in which the Vice Presidents will be in attendance.

Thanks to SCEEZ Bulawayo boxing fans will watch their first professional boxing tournament in 14 years. The last one held at the Large City Hal in 2012 had the Modicai Donga and Charles Manyuchi middleweight title contest and the heavyweight rematch between Thamsanqa Dube and Arigoma Chiponda as the main fights of the bill.

Sibanda is happy though with action coming back to Bulawayo.

“I am happy our colleagues in Harare believe in inclusivity. They want boxing to grow countrywide and knowing that Bulawayo was once the pinnacle of the sport, they have pulled resources together with the aid of the Ministry to say, here is a stage, let this be the time for Bulawayo boxing to rise.

We are very happy and we are playing ball to ensure it happens too,” said Sibanda of Lobengula Boxing Club which has become a professional boxing pillar for Bulawayo.

Previously people like Dave Wellings, Jeff Dube of Rampage Ring Promotions, Omega Sibanda,

Brian Moyo and the late Dumisani Mabhena were at some stage the shining light of professional boxing in Zimbabwe. They staged well managed bills, did great matchmaking and gave fans value for money so much that there was a scramble by boxers from other cities and centres who wanted to fight in Bulawayo.

Sibanda said this is a time for boxing to get back to its feet.

“We have vibrant boxing clubs in Bulawayo. Tshaka and Njube are active too and have a number of very exciting young boxers who gave a good show at the recent Zimbabwe National Youth Games held in Marondera. We topped the ranks and the future looks bright for our city and region,” said Sibanda.

Sibanda said while coaches and boxers sweated it out at council halls, it was now the challenge to the business community to chip in with equipment, improvement of council facilities and sponsor tournaments.

“In as much as our sons and daughters may have the desire and talent, champions are only crafted in the ring where they are crowned champions. Our request is sponsors to come on board and ride on the potential advertising and brand visibility opportunities that the boxers and the sport offer,” said Sibanda last week.

Among some of the top boxers to dominate the national scene from Bulawayo are Thamsanqa

Dube, Elvis Victor Moyo, Nokuthula Tshabangu, Modicai Donga, Kid Power, Kilimanjaro, Ambrose

Mlilo, Fredrick Chisoro, Sipho Moyo, Ndaba Dube, Trust Ndlovu, Eddie Ndlovu, Joyful Mahlangu,

Stephen Masiyambumbi, Frank Bingwa, Victor Ndebele, Forster Masiyambumbi, Morris Chiwaula,

Melusi Ngulube, Maqhawe Ndlovu, Mandla Phuthi and Ntando Sibanda.

“Look at the list of boxers that we have had, our city has a good DNA in the sport. What we need is new promoters, corporate partnerships and funding to put our city back on the map. Sport provides employment, recreation, gets our places known and promote tourism, when the youths are out in the gyms, you have taken a kid out of the streets,” said Sibanda.

Sibanda said among the city’s brightest prospects at the moment are a number of boxers with international experience and on the threshold of big things.

“They need to fight more frequently at an international level. Improve their rankings. We have Sehliselwe Nhliziyo, a super bantamweight boxer, Lawrence Chiyangwa who fights in the super middleweight, Everson Msambidzi (superbantamweight), Gwanda’s Monica Mnkandla who is doing well in South Africa got her professional break and had her first professional fight under our stable.

Tafafdzwa Nkiwane, a super bantamweight will be fighting his first professional fight on October 9 here in Bulawayo.

“But our biggest achievement is probably flyweight boxer Ndabezinhle Phiri who is now based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Under the ranking forum Boxrec which is considered authentic and an authority in the sport, Phiri is ranked fourth in the flyweight division in the world. He is a four star boxer ranked eighth under the World Boxing Council and first under the International Boxing Organisation, we have the talent and we have done well with meagre resources, am sure better funded we can come up with more boxers,” said Sibanda a former Eagles football player.

But the Kuzana SCEEZ boxing tournament presents an opportunity for Bulawayo to lay a claim to returning to boxing greatness.