Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
STAR female boxer Kudakwashe “Take Money” Chiwandire’s football career might still have stalled but she has refused to step out of the boxing ring.
The former WBC interim super-bantamweight champion had been at risk of seeing both her football and boxing careers crumbling under the shadow of a nasty injury she suffered on the pitch last year.
To both complement her boxing and out of sheer love, Chiwandire last year picked up her football boots seven years after she had hung them and joined Scottland Queens in the Northern Region Women’s Soccer League.
For months, she was slowly, perhaps aided by the armband, getting her eloquence, starring for the Mabvuku side before things went upside down after she fractured her leg in a tense match against Harare City.
The injury was so bad she had to be inserted with a metal rod in a delicate process that made everything look bleak.
But in the true spirit of a fighter, Chiwandire was adamant, even in utmost pain, she would walk back into either the ring or the football pitch, or both.
“This injury will make me stronger, when I come back, I will be hungrier.
“One thing is for sure, I am not quitting sport,” she told Zimpapers Sport last year.
“Yes, it is painful; this injury came at a time I was bracing for a boxing title fight on August 23.
“There was also another title fight being lined up for me in November (last year).
“But it is what it is. Injuries happen in every sport, even in boxing there are injuries, worse still deaths.
“The good thing is Scottland Queens are taking care of me. Scottland are not a small team, they are a big project for women’s football and they have been assisting me well.”
With the faith that moves mountains, Chiwandire has been quietly fighting her way back to fitness and she is now up and running. She will headline the Independence boxing extravaganza scheduled for Rufaro Stadium on April 25.
Chiwandire is already back in the gym preparing for the comeback fight where she will tackle Patience Masitara in the super-bantamweight national title.
The downside of boxing is that one always has to start from the base to find their way up again once they have been down.
At just 28, it’s a path that Chiwandire is more than willing to take as she believes she still has what it takes to step up the tree once again. The first-of-its-kind Independence jamboree is being put together by Delta-force and Charles Manyuchi Boxing academies.
Over 15 belts are up for grabs with each of the country’s 10 provinces expected to benefit as the two promoters gear up to develop the sport in all corners of the country.
All the household names, such as Monalisa Sibanda, South Africa-based Elvis “Bomber” Moyo, Thembani Mhlanga and Joseph Maphosa, who lives in the UK are all expected to participate in a tournament organised to commemorate Zimbabwe’s 46th Independence celebrations.
Delta-force Academy director Clyde Musonda revealed yesterday that; “It will be one of the biggest boxing fiestas you have seen in years.
“Kuda Chiwandire is back and she will face Patience Masitara in a national title match.
“Before the date, we might organise another build-up fight for her so that she can be in the groove.
“The Independence tournament will be held at Rufaro Stadium and we are so happy to announce that we have basically been given the clearance to host this massive tournament.
“We will be celebrating our 46th Independence together with the rest of the country and we hope to see the re-birth of boxing across the provinces out of this fiesta.”
More than 15 fights are on the card but the organisers are still working on match-making to come up with the rest of the bout card.
