Hilary Josamu comes close to bronze, misses US$50 ...

Hilary Josamu comes close to bronze, misses US$50 000 at world championships

Audrey Galawu

The four boxers who represented Zimbabwe at the International Boxing Association Men’s World championships returned home Tuesday with their heads held high following encouraging performances at the global stage.

The annual boxing fiesta, which had over 90 fighters from Africa taking part, was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, between May 1-14.

With the aid of IBA which provided air tickets, accommodation and meals for the quartet and their two coaches, boxers Hilary Josamu, Wisdom Dube, Luckmore Kamoto and Lwazi Mpofu displayed commendable efforts.

Josamu, whose uncle is the late former middleweight champion Gilbert Josamu, came a bout short of claiming a bronze medal missing the US$50 000 cash prize that went to the gold medalist.

National team coach Alexandra Kwangwari, himself a former Olympian, and his assistant Marko Sibanda were the technical staff.

The Zimbabwean team had their assignment made possible by the intervention of Shumba Boxing Academy director, Wesley “Shumba” Macdade, who facilitated issuance of their visas from his own pocket.

At a press conference held in Harare Thursday to welcome the boxers, Macdade said their exposure to the international ring will go a long way in preparing them for future assignments that include the All Africa Games in Morocco this year and the Paris Olympic games in 2024.

“We call upon the Zimbabwe Boxing Federation who we report under, the Sports and Recreation Commission, the sports ministry and the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee to please support us.

“The reason why I’m saying this is because we are in preparation for the Olympics which are going to happen in Paris in 2024. We would like our boxers to participate at the highest level and be fully prepared.

“Right now, we have got games that are happening in Cameroon and we need the team to go. There is already a point system that is taking place for the boxers. It’s a process and we need to be part of the process to achieve. If we are left out of the process, we are never going to achieve the desired results.

“We humbly request for that support and for the administration in place, we beg you to hear our call. Let’s come together and prepare. I know there are concerns in regards to financial support. For instance, in Cameroon Zimbabweans are required to have visas and those visas are not cheap. I would love to say I can do it but there are limitations so we need all the support we can get.

“My efforts are more into the development of the youth of the nation in terms of the amateur boxing. This is where I find my pride. This is why we founded this academy to impart the knowledge to the young ones.

“This gives me a great privilege today to stand before you to say we have managed to achieve something and we have managed to participate at the world stage which is an achievement for the nation,” said Macdade who is also the national light-heavyweight champion.

Speaking on behalf of his contemporaries, (Hilary) Josamu said they fought with professional boxers, which was very difficult because some of them are highly-rated and they had had over one year training unlike them who only camped for two weeks.

“While for most of us it was our first time, we owe it to our government for allowing us to go and represent the country. We, however, need all the support we can get and to go for more of these tournaments to gain experience.

“For instance, one of the boxers that I fought with was from Korea, but I managed to beat him in the preliminaries. When I got to the finals, I fought with a boxer from Tajikistan who is ranked number five in the world which is when I failed to proceed because I lacked equal experience,” Josamu said.