DR Congo have made a big statement on their intention to win the inaugural Mandela African Boxing Cup tournament in Durban.
The Central Africans have 17 boxers in today’s (April 20) semi-finals at the International Convention Centre (ICC ).
Hosts South Africa are a distant second with nine semi-finalists, Lesotho seven, Botswana and Ethiopia six each, Uganda, Mozambique and Namibia five each, Zimbabwe and Mauritius four each, Egypt three, Eswatini, Tanzania, Angola, Seychelles and Cameroon two each and Cape Verde only one, the reigning Africa welterweiggt champion Ivanusa Moreira Gomes who has a tough battle against Uganda’s Africa bronze medallist Emily Nakalema.
It will the fourth time the two boxers are meeting with Moreira leading 2-1. She’s favoured to chalk up her third win over the Ugandan but she’s not taking her lightly.
“I’ll face this fight as a final, put all I got in it, you can expect my best,” the bubbly Moreira told me in a phone chat last night at her hotel flanked by her husband and coach Jorge Silva.
The other women’s welterweight semi-final pits Ethiopia’s African Games champion Wolde Betel Dedi against DRC’s Brigitte Mbabi who has yet to win gold for her country and is yearning to do it in Durban.
Since she started representing the national team in 2018, Brigitte has won three silver and three bronze medals in various international tournaments.
“This time I’m feeling good, I’m not worried by my opponent because I’ve studied her game and already I have a strategy to beat her,” said the Lubumbashi-born Mbabi.
The featherweight duel between southpaw Amzolele Dyeyi of South Africa and Botswana’s George Molwantwa promises to be a cracker, so will the light-welterweight bout between South Africa’s John Paul Masamba and DRC’s Mbaya Mulumba. This one could go either way with the winner meeting Mauritius’ three-time Olympian, 2022 Africa champion and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Richarno Colin who’s expected to stroll past Eswatini’s Phelindaba Gamedze.
Richarno’s compatriot, long-serving international Merven Clair and Commonwealth Games light-middleweight bronze medallist Tiago Muxanga of Mozambique are expected to keep fans on the edge of their seats with a jaw-dropping show The southpaw Clair is a smart operator whom I’m sure will not be ready to be drawn into close quarter exchanges to avoid Muxanga’s digging body punches.
Uganda’s 19-year-old revelation Fatuma Nabikolo has her work cut out against the more experienced Egyptian Yomna Ayyad, one of the 18 African boxers who have qualified for the Paris Olympics. Ayyad is a pressure fighter and will carry the fight to Nabikolo soon after the first bell but she will find a Nabikolo an agile fighter with good footwork and a busy jab to keep her opponent at bay. The Ugandan made a successful debut decisioning South Africa’s Cwenga Qasana in the quarter-finals.
Ethiopia’s African Games flyweight champion sensation Bethlehem Gayiza returns to action after her immaculate show in Accra, and is facing a difficult opponent in South Africa’s Thandolwethu Mathiba in what promises to be a closely contested fight.
Tanzania’s Africa and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Yusuf Changalawe is walking tall following his second consecutive victory over Egypt’s Salah Orabi whom he leads 2-1 in their three fights so far. Buoyed by that sweet victory, he’s favoured to outpoint Namibia’s Phillipus Tangein for a rematch with DRC’s African Games champion Pita Kabeji, likely to get past Cameroon’s Roger Ciril in one of the two light-heavyweight bouts. Changalawe is itching to fight Kabeji in a rematch after he claimed he was robbed of victory when they met in the African Games.
African Games light-middleweight champion Mbiya Kulenguka of DR Congo will clash with Egypt’s Elawady Elsayed for the second time. He outpointed the Egyptian in the finals of the African Games in Accra. Kulenguka is tipped for another win.
A total of 43 semi-final bouts will be contested with the first session starting at 2pm and the evening session at 6pm, South African time.
Credit: AFBC Communication
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