admin
Langton Nyakwenda
CHARLES MANYUCHI continues to climb up the World Boxing Council welterweight rankings following the successful defence of his international title in July. Manyuchi stopped Italian challenger Gianluca Freeza in round six on July 17, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy to garner enough points to push him five places up to 14th on the WBC Ratings.
The Zimbabwean is now the top ranked African boxer on the WBC welterweight rankings after overtaking Sierra Leone born Leonard Bundu who now sits on position 15.
The development props up Manyuchi’s resume ahead of the WBC Convention in China where his Zambian handlers, Oriental Quarries, will attempt to bid for a fight against British top ranked boxer Amir Khan.
Khan holds the WBC welterweight silver title while the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr, who announced his retirement after reaching 49-0 with a victory over Andre Berto last weekend, holds the gold title.
“It is good for my image, I am a champion and I also need to fight champions. It is my wish to continue rising, it puts me on the market and my aim now is to break into the top 10,” said Manyuchi.
The talented but humble boxer, who recently received $50 000 from President Mugabe, is taking a break while awaiting confirmation of his next opponent. He has been devoting his time into his quest to unearth boxing talent in the country.
Manyuchi’s nationwide tour, which also took him to the National Youth Games in Mutare last month, has convinced him the country can produce an heir to his throne.
The WBC champion has already identified three male boxers Carlos Ncube (17) of Matabeleland North, Freeman Mabvongwe (18)of Masvingo and Harare’s Thomas Jojo (17) for further development under his Bees Boxing Stable.
Mabvongwe won gold in the welterweight division at this year’s Youth Games while Ncube was a silver medallist in the lightweight category.
“I have seen that we have a lot of promising boxers at amateur level but they are lacking exposure.
Looking at the young man Freeman (Mabvongwe), you can see a future international welterweight boxing champion.
“Ncube and Jojo are good lightweight boxers, very impressive. I was impressed with what I saw at the recent National Youth Games and my nationwide tours have also been an eye opener.
“We have the talent but the problem is these youngsters lack support, they are not exposed.
I suffered the same fate before my association with my Zambian promoters,” said Manyuchi.
Manyuchi was also unearthed at the National Youth Games, a tournament he dominated between 2005 and 2008 as an amateur.
However, the boxer reckons the gap between amateur and professional boxing is proving too big for some promising youngsters hence his latest drive to promote fights.
His Bees Boxing Stable was scheduled to host its first tournament in Chivhu last night while another one is on the cards in Harare later this month as Manyuchi bids to usher promising pugilists into the professional world.
“This is just a way of saying thank you to Zimbabwe; I am a world champion because of the support I get from Zimbabweans.
We need to expose these amateurs to as many fights as possible.
“However, doing so requires a lot of money but I am lucky to have financial supporters like Mr. T35. They are the main sponsor of this whole project,” said Manyuchi.
WBC Rankings
Champion – Floyd Mayweather Jr.
1. Amir Khan (GB)
2. Danny Garcia (US)
3. Shawn Potter (US)
4. Antonin Decarie (Canada)
5. Marcos Maidana (Argentina)
6. Brandon Rios (US)
7. Konstantin Ponomarev (RUS)
8. Ray Robinson (US)
9. Robert Guerrero (US)
10. Alfonso Gomes (MEX)
14 CHARLES MANYUCHI (ZIM)
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter