Josamu Memorial gets green light

February 11 bill.
The Gilbert “Giro” Josamu Memorial Tournament will be staged at Harare Exhibition Centre’s Glamis Arena and will have a national lightweight title fight as its main bout.
Misheck Kondwani of Mbare and Bulawayo’s Dumezeli Mtulike will be fighting for the vacant national lightweight title over 12 rounds in the main bout of the February 11 bill that now has seven fights.
The tournament is being promoted by the Black Fist Promotions in remembrance of the former national middleweight champion Gilbert “Giro” Josamu who died on June 23, 2001.
Josamu’s young brother, Abel, is one of the tournament’s organisers, operating under the Black Fist Promotions.
And Abel Josamu said yesterday that the Zimbabwe Boxing Board of Control have given them their thumbs up to stage this event on February 11.
“We recently met with the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Boxing Board of Control, Patrick Mukondiwa, who gave us the go-ahead to stage this tournament.
“So, I can safely say that everything is now in place for the staging of the Gilbert ‘Giro’ Josamu Memorial Tournament at the Glamis Arena on February 11.
“We would also like to thank (local professional boxing promoter) Stalin Mau Mau for coming up with the purse money for the two boxers who will be fighting for the vacant national lightweight title and local food processing company Cairns Foods who will be one of our main sponsors.
“We are also trying to court former boxing promoter Phillip Chiyangwa and we want him to help us in staging this tournament as he was one of the first people who used to worked with Gilbert Josamu during his professional career,” Abel Josamu said.
Abel Josamu, who is also a matchmaker, said they have added another fight to their February 11 bill – a four-round light-heavyweight fight featuring Francis Sigauke from Harare and Bulawayo’s Noel Mpofu.
Both Sigauke and Mpofu have just turned professional and will, in fact, be fighting in their first professional fight on February 11.
“This now makes it a seven-fight bill and we hope the local boxing followers will get good value for their money during what promises to be a very exciting tournament,” Abel Josamu said.
The other fights that are on this bill include an eight-round super-featherweight non-title fight between Tawanda Kachigwada and Trymore Musira, and a super-bantamweight six-round contest featuring Bensterin Mateu and Batanai Ruwizhu.
There will also be three other non-title fights which will see Tinashe Mwadzwana taking on Lovewell Maphosa (bantamweight), Silas Mandeya trading leather with Martin Tshuma (junior welterweight) and Ronnie Tamani facing Lynos Murabwa (featherweight).
All these three bouts will be over six rounds.
And to spice-up the February 11 bill, Black Fist Promotions will also be having a fashion show during this event.
Abel Josamu said they have already lined-up a number of models from in and around Harare who will grace this tournament, among them are Violet Kapadza, Heather Tarisai, Patricia Mlotshwa, Paidamoyo Dhlamini and Mitchel Marufu.
“After staging the February 11 tournament, we are also looking at having another boxing event on March 31 where we will include a Ms Legs contest and a children’s fashion show.
“We are also likely to stage another boxing event on June 1 this year and this is all part of our efforts to revive professional boxing in Zimbabwe. In fact, this year we are back with a big bang and there are a lot of surprises in store for the local boxing followers,” Abel Josamu said.