Brothers war over Giro tourney

has been scheduled for February 11 and is the brainchild of the late Mbare-based boxer’s younger brother Abel.
Abel Josamu is a matchmaker at Black Fist Boxing Promotions who are backing him in staging this tournament, which will now be staged at the City Sports Centre.
But two of the late Gilbert Josamu’s other brothers – Moses and Jerry – have distanced themselves from this tournament, claiming that their family was not consulted over the staging of this event.
Moses and Jerry said they were not against the staging of this boxing bill but were not happy with the use of their late brother’s name, Gilbert, by the tournament’s organisers.
“This whole thing (the proposed staging of the February 11 tournament) was not done in consultancy with other members of the Josamu family and we did not give Abel and the promoters the go-ahead to name their tournament after our late brother.
“They can go ahead and stage their tournament but we don’t want them (Black Fist Boxing Promotions) to name it after our late brother.
“Gilbert Josamu has been dead for almost 11 years now and they must just let him rest in peace,” claimed Moses and Jerry Josamu.
When contacted yesterday, Abel Josamu confirmed that a misunderstanding rose between him and his two brothers over the staging of the February 11 tournament but was adamant that it would go ahead as scheduled.
“My two brothers think that I and Black Fist Promotions will get a lot of money by staging this tournament. They also think that by using the name Gilbert Josamu, the tournament will have a lot of sympathisers who will pour in a lot of money towards the staging of this event.
“But that’s not the case. I just came up with the idea of staging this tournament in remembrance of my late brother Gilbert who everybody knows that I was very close to him during his professional career.
“In fact, nothing was done to honour him since he died in 2001 and I just thought that something must be done towards this cause hence the decision to have the memorial tournament.
“This was also part of Black Fist Boxing Promotions’ efforts of reviving professional boxing in this country and it has got nothing to do with fleecing ordinary people of their hard-earned cash,” Abel Josamu said.
The young matchmaker said that since there has been some objections from some members of his family in calling the tournament the “Gilbert Josamu Memorial Tournament”, they have decided to drop the late boxer’s name and will still go ahead in staging the seven-fight bill on February 11.
“I’ve already booked a venue for this tournament and it will now be staged at the City Sports Centre on February 11. Everything is going ahead as planned.
“In fact, it (the tournament) is now called the Black Fist Boxing Promotions Tournament and it will be held simultaneously with the BFB beauty contest which has already attracted a number of beauty contestants and models from in and around Harare.”
Abel Josamu also said that the fight for the vacant national lightweight title between Misheck Kondwani of Harare and Bulawayo’s Dumezeli Mtulike was still the main bout on their February 11 bill.
“I’d like to assure our sponsors and the local boxing fans that the bill remain the same and I’m quite convinced that we will stage a very successful boxing tournament on February 11 despite these small problems which have arisen as we prepare to stage it,” Abel Josamu said.