Ambitious academy joins boxing fray

A new baby in the boxing fraternity was introduced to the public at a Windhoek restaurant on Tuesday. Armed with a theme song, some highly connected individuals and a desire to develop the popular code, Salute Boxing Academy was launched amid promises of revolutionising the sport, which has produced three Namibian world champions so far. The academy will be headed by businessman Kiriata Kamanya, who said he has always been interested in boxing. “I’ve always loved boxing and wanted to be a boxer in my youth,” he said. “I have been involved in boxing for a long time,” he added. And it is this experience that Kamanya and his board are hoping will help the academy make inroads in the sport. “Our founding chairman has been in the industry for long and knows the loopholes and needs... As such he will provide a helicopter view of what needs to be done,” said Fredrich Nghiyolwa, the academy’s spokesperson. Kamanya said Namibia has “the right volume of boxers and they just need to be pushed to the next level”. “We want to... give back to the community because we see the abundant talent.” Salute Boxing Academy said its boxers and trainers will be announced in due course, as yesterday’s event was only aimed at making the public aware of its existence. Game changer With funds to stage fights hard to come by, it is hoped that the new stable will provide some sort of solution. These were the thoughts of boxer/promoter at Warriors Promotions Joseph ‘Smokey’ Hilongwa, who also addressed the gathering yesterday. “I have been fighting as a professional boxer for 15 years but I only have a record of 13 fights. That is a situation that is not normal and I welcome Salute Boxing Academy and we’ll see if they can remedy that,” he said. The academy seems to have recruited one fighter already. Johannes ‘Tito’ Mwetupunga said that, as a free agent, he is ready to work with the new establishment. Mwetupunga, who was formerly based in Australia and won titles in that country, said that despite his track record he has not had enough fights. “I’ve been back in the country for four years and have only had four fights. So I’ll be free to fight under them,” he stated. Enough space Opinion among some of those in attendance was that Salute Boxing Academy’s entry into the local scene should not be viewed as a threat to the existing stables. Instead the stable should be seen as an entity that is ready to help in the development of one of the most popular codes. “Let us put it this way: we found the existing promoters pushing the wagon and we will just put our hands on that same wagon to push it to another level,” Nghiyolwa said. Kamanya will be joined by Linus Indongo as the academy’s deputy chairman, Nghiyolwa, who is a registered promoter, as spokesperson, and Taleni Mutilifa as the legal affairs handler. Abel Amutse will oversee the logistics and operation while Valeno Niipare will handle the information technology and marketing aspects. International Boxing Federation (IBF) Africa and Asia president Simon Andjamba was also in attendance, as was Boxing Control Board deputy chairman Ellison Hijarunguru. WINDHOEK-HECTOR MAWONGA