What a spectacular and a colourful start to the 21st edition of the Africa Elite Boxing Championships at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa with a roaring and a loudly appreciative dancing crowd to boot.
The boxers in action on the opening day (October 19) put up a commendable performance spiced up with splendid dancing and cheering by the home fans who packed the venue in large numbers. Apart from a few hiccups, everything went on as planned with the chief host Congolese Boxing Federation President Ferdinand Ilunga Luyoyo and his team working with clockwork precision to the satisfaction of all the fans who attended the opening day of the one-week boxing extravaganza.
While defeat is part of the game, for some of the losers such as Moroccan youngster Amine Maarouf and Senegal’s African Games super-heavyweight bronze medallist Diarga Balde, their losses were too painful to bear especially for the Moroccan newcomer who bathed in his tears in the dressing weeping uncontrollably as his coaches and teammates consoled him. He was hurt by his unanimous points defeat to Mozambican Manuel Banguine who is also a newcomer to big-time boxing. Positively however Maarouf’s reaction is healthy going forward. It shows his boxing passion and concern in defeat unlike some boxers who react casually. Therefore his tears were not in vain. There’s a bright future ahead for the promising Moroccan boxer.
Balde put up a scrappy show losing on points to DR Congo’s Apanu Anyosu who sailed through to the semi finals. The Senegalese boxer has only himself to blame for failing to use his height advantage effectively leaning unnecessarily on his shorter opponent. When the decision was announced, Balde’s world came tumbling down. The defeat was so bitter that one would think he had lost a land case in court.
Outside the ring, he sat in a pensive mood wondering what really happened in his fight against the Congolese boxer. His handlers and teammates surrounded him to share their grief in what will remain one of the lowest moments for Balde who was among Senegal’s main hope for medals in Kinshasa. Earlier, Balde’s compatriot Alphonse Mendy saw off Congo’s Nowani Oyo in a middleweight encounter to keep alive his hopes of returning home with a medal after bowing out in the quarter-finals in last year’s Africa Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Among the notable boxers who won their fights include Moroccans Hamza Essaadi and Abdelhaq Nadir, Namibia’s featherweight Tryagain Ndevelo, South Africa’s hitman John Paul Masamba, Cameroon’s silver medallist in Yaounde Martial Wouang including three DR Congo’s boxers, minimumweight Zola Tulembekwa, light-welterweight Malenga Zengala and super-heavyweight Apanu Anyisa.
When the going gets rough, the smarter get going. That was Namibian Ndevelo’s approach against Massala Bilondo of Congo Brazzaville. Upon realising his opponent was a big hitter and stronger than him, Ndevelo decided to be smarter.
“I tricked him into believing I’m scared of him by running away as I scored points on the retreat, he must have realised when it was too late I was playing with his mind,” Ndevelolo told me later in an interview.
A good start for Masamba, boxing in his father’s birthplace for the first time. The South African boxer knocked out Gabon’s Sebastien Allela in the second round at light-welterweight to set up a difficult quarter-final encounter against Zambia’s African Games silver medallist Emmanuel Katema who caused a major upset at the Accra African Games by decisioning two-time Africa champion Jugurtha Ait Bekkah of Algeria and lost in the finals to Ghana’s Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Samuel Takyi.
With that experience under his belt, the Zambian is definitely a hard nut to crack for battle-hardened Masamba who’s well aware he lost to Katema during the 2022 Zone 4 Championships in Maputo. “I’ll take him the way he comes I’m.ready for anything in Kinshasa,” said a defiant Masamba, a silver medallist in the Mandela Cup and bronze medal winner in the Accra Games.
Minimumweight Zola Tulembekwa gave the hosts a winning start when he got the better of Gabon’s Mbadinga Ndjembi with Morocco’s Hamza Essaadi overcoming Kenyan newcomer Silus Onyango 4-1, Cameroon’s Martial Wouang outpointed Mozambican Lucas Silvia and DR Congo’s gold medallist in Yaounde, Malenga Zengala beat Congo’s Excellent Mbolo at light-welterweight.
Credit: AFBC Communications
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