The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
IN 2023, Zimbabwe only had one bout for heavyweight boxers at a local tournament in Harare.
For a sport that had shown great potential to earn the country pride and admiration, given the rich history epitomised by the larger than life exploits of a legendary figure in the late Proud Chinembiri, better known as Kilimanjaro, neutrals would be forgiven to think that the sporting discipline is in regression mode.
This is mainly because few promoters are willing to include heavyweight fights in their promotions.
Much as talent abounds, such as the presence of 30-year-old Rusape-based Anesu Motsi, whose ring name is “The Guy Unstoppable”, the platform to showcase his abilities in the ring has not been forthcoming.
For a fact, Zimbabwe has four licenced heavyweight boxers.
Among these, one is a recently graduated professional heavyweight boxer who is yet to have a debut fight, two have been active in the past three years, and one is not active.
The youngest heavyweight boxer is in his 30s, while the others are in their 40s.
For the growth of their careers as well as for the inspiration of prospective heavyweight boxers, promotion of bouts is key.
For Motsi, it has been an impressive journey, with four titles under his belt in a career that has seen him visiting countries like France, Turkey, Uzbekistan, China and Japan, among others.
But Zimbabwe last took part in the African Boxing Confederation-organised tournament in 1994 in South Africa, where the country won a bronze medal through light-middleweight champion, Alexander Kwangwari, who is now Motsi’s coach.
This places into context the lack of boxing promoters with lucrative bouts that can ensure the development of heavyweight boxing.
Zimbabwe National Boxing and Wrestling Control Board (ZNBWCB) chairperson — Vee Chibanda — who became the first woman to lead the combat sports panel when she assumed duty, said: “The state of heavyweight boxing in the country since the heydays of legends such as Proud ‘Kilimanjaro’ Chinembiri cannot be looked at in isolation. Heavyweight boxing is one of the many weight divisions for professional boxing, therefore its development is somehow interlinked to the general growth of boxing as a sport.
“Last year, we only had one bout for heavyweight boxers during a tournament in Harare because few promoters are willing to include heavyweight fights in their promotions.”
Chibanda, however, sees a bright future for boxing with all its weight divisions.
“On the other hand, the legacy of heavyweight boxing, particularly in the Mbare community of Harare where we had a very strong base, has been maintained through the rise of Derek Chisora who has become an international heavyweight champion based in the United Kingdom. He has a boxing foundation in Mbare.
“When we look at the future prospects of heavyweight boxing, we should look at it holistically, not just in one weight category considering that we are seeing a positive transition in the development of the sport.
“The future of heavyweight boxing is promising as we are witnessing its steady rise despite limited fight time due to few promotions. What makes us have a positive projection is the realisation that we have heavyweight potential and what we need to focus on is the support system for the boxers to be able to participate in many bouts to improve their ranking and contend for title fights,” said Chibanda.
Chibanda said efforts are underway to have high performance centres in all provinces.
“The board is looking at creating an enabling environment for boxing promotions and opportunities for more promoters to come on board are there. We have also realised that at the core of any boxer is the availability of standard facilities for preparation, and in this regard the board is looking at prospects to partner with the corporate sector to establish high performance centres in all provinces in order to provide the gym equipment that boxers require in their preparation.
“We are also establishing synergies with other boxing bodies in the region and internationally to have more boxing tournaments and include heavyweight bouts on the bout cards to enable adequate fight time for our heavyweight boxers to improve their rankings on the international scale. It is only through this that we can be able to entice match-makers to secure good fights,” she said.
Be that as it may, for Motsi and his generation of heavyweight boxers, the wait continues.
Motsi is one of the four licenced heavyweight boxers in the country, who believes is now ripe and ready to fill the huge void left by Zimbabwe’s greatest heavyweight boxer, Chinembiri.
The late Chinembiri traced his roots in Rusape and was buried in Chinembiri Village, Makoni.
Motsi has relocated from Harare to Rusape as he seeks to emulate and step into the big shoes of his adored icon, the late Chinembiri.
With this disheartening absence of promoters, who knows, even in bad luck, Motsi could be indeed walking in the footsteps of the late Chinembiri.
Why?
The late legend Proud ‘Kilimanjaro’ Chinembiri could have had a shot at a big fight against Lennox Lewis back then, however, that did not happen.
At his peak, Kilimanjaro was ranked Number Nine by the World Boxing Council at a time when Mike Tyson was the champion.
The late Kilimanjaro was recruited as an opponent for Lennox Lewis, then a 7-0 prospect with an Olympic gold medal, in 1990.
According to Sky Sports, there was a certain cachet for Lewis to dispatch Africa’s best heavyweight.
A backstage scramble erupted. The late Kilimanjaro did not have the correct documents to prove that he HIV free, as was mandatory for all foreign boxers in Britain at that time.
The fight was cancelled at the last minute.
The crowd was furious and Lewis confronted them, daring critics to get into the ring instead.
Four years later, at 36, Kilimanjaro died.
The late Kilimanjaro’s legacy is a 32-6 record including five wins over local rival, Black Tiger, but also a feeling that more could have been made of his career.
If he was around today, we would all feel that a mighty powerhouse named after Africa’s biggest mountain, would be a valuable commodity and would benefit more from his occupation.
Today, Derek Chisora leads the way for Zimbabwe-born heavyweights and Africa boasts plenty more, too, not least Anthony Joshua of Nigerian descent.
They are all in the shadow of Kilimanjaro.
And today, Motsi is in his prime stage and form, a stage he would badly need fights for the much-needed exposure and challenges, but promoters remain unavailable and the talented boxer remains anticipating.
Could this be another hugely talented boxer whom we shall stand and witness failing to achieve his full potential as he struggles for sponsorship and fight time due to lack of corporate partnership and promoters?
