Disgruntled Uushona lets rip
Former WBO Africa welterweight champion Bethuel ‘Tyson’ Uushona has come out swinging after media reports that World Boxing Federation (WBF) titles are considered ‘Mickey Mouse’ belts.
Uushona is due to fight Germany’s Deniz Ilbay for the WBF world welterweight title in Walvis Bay on Saturday, 25 June.
But a column in last week’s New Era newspaper stated that having to fight for a WBF title was a disgrace for local boxing.
Uushona took offence, calling into question the timing of the discussion.
Although the boxer admits that the WBF is not one of the most prestigious titles, he regards it as worth fighting for.
“For me as a fighter, I’m not in a position to comment on the WBF as a sanctioning body and their credibility but as far as I know it is recognised as a world title,” he said.
“It may be one of the small world titles but many champions have fought for it before,” he added, naming South Africa’s Dingaan ‘The Rose of Soweto’ Thobela as one of those.
Double standards
Thobela, who described fighting for a WBF title as “more recommended for gym fighters, and promoters would normally organise such titles for boxers who cannot fight in the top level as a stepping stone,” fought for the WBF world middleweight title in 1999; going down to a majority points decision loss to Cornelius Carr in the United Kingdom.
“So now the question comes in, why did he take part in that fight?” asked Uushona.
The Namibian boxer also pointed out that compatriot Paulus ‘Ali’ Nuumbembe fought for the WBF world welterweight title against Bongani Mwelase of South Africa in 2008.
“Nestor took Ali Nuumbembe for the WBF title and it is the same title I will be fighting for this Saturday. Now he says his fighters will not take part in the WBF,” he said, referring to renowned boxing promoter Nestor ‘Sunshine’ Tobias.
Uushona, who was formerly promoted by Tobias, said it appeared that this was an attempt to discredit his efforts to continue his boxing career.
“Is it only a problem when other promotions are fighting under these sanctioned bodies or is it jealousy that he has towards other promotions?
“Because one can get confused what Nestor really wants in life. If the WBF is not recognised, why does our control board sanction the fights?”
Nothing personal
In his response, Tobias insisted that there was nothing personal about his comments and that he was just trying to point out the different levels in the boxing world.
“When asked to comment on the legitimacy of the WBF, I did so knowing that I would be accused of trying to sabotage Tyson Uushona and their promotion (Salute Boxing Academy), but I also know I did so knowing that I protect the sport of boxing and Namibia’s current high boxing standard, which is bigger than all of us,” he said.
“The fact is that in the boxing world, the WBF today is not recognised or taken seriously by any promoter or TV.
“Boxing is a business and if you obtain a title, you do so knowing that you want to do business with it by attracting other fighters around the world to challenge you.
“It therefore doesn’t make sense that you have a title that does not mean anything,” he said.
Levels
Tobias went on to explain that much like everything else in life, there are levels in boxing.
“For boxing in Namibia, we have already three world champions and they are recognised worldwide.
“We have worked hard to bring boxing where it is today… and now we are on that level where we compete against the best in the world. In boxing there are levels.
“You can fight for Namibian national titles, regional titles, and others, no one is going to stop you. But when you come to the world stage, you must make sure because you are not only representing yourself but the country,” he stated.
He said many people have a misconception about boxing, especially in the African and Namibian sense.
“People think there is a lot of money in boxing but when they come in and realise there is no money, then they want to change the rules of the game. You cannot do that.
“There is procedure to follow to get to any stage. It doesn’t matter whether it is politics or even journalism… There are stages.
“If you respect yourself and understand things, you cannot become president tomorrow if you are a governor somewhere. So to compare the world titles, you talk about WBA, IBF, WBO, WBC and IBO, these five, I can recommend for anyone.
“If you are not ready for a world title, don’t come with these Mickey Mouse things and tell people this is a world title.”
Enough space
As for him not wanting other promotions to succeed, Tobias said that is total hogwash.
“All the boxers are my products, even if they have contracts elsewhere. I just let them go, I didn’t question any of them,” he said making reference to Gottlieb ‘The Bite’ Ndokosho and Abraham ‘Energy’ Ndaendapo, who are fighting as undercards in Uushona’s bout.
“You have never heard me talk about them because they went on to fight for IBF titles, which is good because those are recognised sanction bodies,” he said.
Tobias said he was slightly disappointed by how Uushona chose to deal with this issue because he considered the boxer to be a brother.
“I’ve promoted 36 of Tyson’s 39 fights and never have we ever fought for the WBF just to become champion.
“I know the quality of boxers we have in the country and I don’t do any boxers favours.
“I give them what they deserve and I gave Tyson an opportunity to improve his ranking but he lost. But we didn’t kick him out, he left and we said, it is fine you can go.”
And it’s for that reason that Tobias feels Uushona should have approached him before making it a public affair.
“I cannot answer him through the media. He is my brother… if he wants he can come to my house, we can have lunch or dinner or he can come to my office.”
HECTOR MAWONGA
Uushona is due to fight Germany’s Deniz Ilbay for the WBF world welterweight title in Walvis Bay on Saturday, 25 June.
But a column in last week’s New Era newspaper stated that having to fight for a WBF title was a disgrace for local boxing.
Uushona took offence, calling into question the timing of the discussion.
Although the boxer admits that the WBF is not one of the most prestigious titles, he regards it as worth fighting for.
“For me as a fighter, I’m not in a position to comment on the WBF as a sanctioning body and their credibility but as far as I know it is recognised as a world title,” he said.
“It may be one of the small world titles but many champions have fought for it before,” he added, naming South Africa’s Dingaan ‘The Rose of Soweto’ Thobela as one of those.
Double standards
Thobela, who described fighting for a WBF title as “more recommended for gym fighters, and promoters would normally organise such titles for boxers who cannot fight in the top level as a stepping stone,” fought for the WBF world middleweight title in 1999; going down to a majority points decision loss to Cornelius Carr in the United Kingdom.
“So now the question comes in, why did he take part in that fight?” asked Uushona.
The Namibian boxer also pointed out that compatriot Paulus ‘Ali’ Nuumbembe fought for the WBF world welterweight title against Bongani Mwelase of South Africa in 2008.
“Nestor took Ali Nuumbembe for the WBF title and it is the same title I will be fighting for this Saturday. Now he says his fighters will not take part in the WBF,” he said, referring to renowned boxing promoter Nestor ‘Sunshine’ Tobias.
Uushona, who was formerly promoted by Tobias, said it appeared that this was an attempt to discredit his efforts to continue his boxing career.
“Is it only a problem when other promotions are fighting under these sanctioned bodies or is it jealousy that he has towards other promotions?
“Because one can get confused what Nestor really wants in life. If the WBF is not recognised, why does our control board sanction the fights?”
Nothing personal
In his response, Tobias insisted that there was nothing personal about his comments and that he was just trying to point out the different levels in the boxing world.
“When asked to comment on the legitimacy of the WBF, I did so knowing that I would be accused of trying to sabotage Tyson Uushona and their promotion (Salute Boxing Academy), but I also know I did so knowing that I protect the sport of boxing and Namibia’s current high boxing standard, which is bigger than all of us,” he said.
“The fact is that in the boxing world, the WBF today is not recognised or taken seriously by any promoter or TV.
“Boxing is a business and if you obtain a title, you do so knowing that you want to do business with it by attracting other fighters around the world to challenge you.
“It therefore doesn’t make sense that you have a title that does not mean anything,” he said.
Levels
Tobias went on to explain that much like everything else in life, there are levels in boxing.
“For boxing in Namibia, we have already three world champions and they are recognised worldwide.
“We have worked hard to bring boxing where it is today… and now we are on that level where we compete against the best in the world. In boxing there are levels.
“You can fight for Namibian national titles, regional titles, and others, no one is going to stop you. But when you come to the world stage, you must make sure because you are not only representing yourself but the country,” he stated.
He said many people have a misconception about boxing, especially in the African and Namibian sense.
“People think there is a lot of money in boxing but when they come in and realise there is no money, then they want to change the rules of the game. You cannot do that.
“There is procedure to follow to get to any stage. It doesn’t matter whether it is politics or even journalism… There are stages.
“If you respect yourself and understand things, you cannot become president tomorrow if you are a governor somewhere. So to compare the world titles, you talk about WBA, IBF, WBO, WBC and IBO, these five, I can recommend for anyone.
“If you are not ready for a world title, don’t come with these Mickey Mouse things and tell people this is a world title.”
Enough space
As for him not wanting other promotions to succeed, Tobias said that is total hogwash.
“All the boxers are my products, even if they have contracts elsewhere. I just let them go, I didn’t question any of them,” he said making reference to Gottlieb ‘The Bite’ Ndokosho and Abraham ‘Energy’ Ndaendapo, who are fighting as undercards in Uushona’s bout.
“You have never heard me talk about them because they went on to fight for IBF titles, which is good because those are recognised sanction bodies,” he said.
Tobias said he was slightly disappointed by how Uushona chose to deal with this issue because he considered the boxer to be a brother.
“I’ve promoted 36 of Tyson’s 39 fights and never have we ever fought for the WBF just to become champion.
“I know the quality of boxers we have in the country and I don’t do any boxers favours.
“I give them what they deserve and I gave Tyson an opportunity to improve his ranking but he lost. But we didn’t kick him out, he left and we said, it is fine you can go.”
And it’s for that reason that Tobias feels Uushona should have approached him before making it a public affair.
“I cannot answer him through the media. He is my brother… if he wants he can come to my house, we can have lunch or dinner or he can come to my office.”
HECTOR MAWONGA
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