Manyuchi’s Grand Finale series comes to Harare ...

Manyuchi’s Grand Finale series comes to Harare

Charles Manyuchi Honoured The World... - ZimSports Connect | Facebook — **Charles Manyuchi**

Gilbert Munetsi

Boxing champion Charles Manyuchi returns to the ring on November 25 in an eight-round contest against Jimmy “The Beast” Mabundji of the DRC as part of his Grand Finale series in which he is bidding bye to professional boxing after a decade and a half of active participation.

The Harare event, whose announcement was made at a press conference convened Monday, takes place at the spacious Heritage Village in Westlea and is being promoted by a project he co-manages, the Charles Manyuchi Boxing Academy.

Mabundji (W10;L7;D1) is a former holder of the World Boxing Federation Africa championship which he won in 2017 after beating fellow countryman Dido Mukanya. He is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Manyuchi - arguably the best boxer to have emerged from post-independence Zimbabwe - has decided to spike his gloves at 34, 14 years after he partook his first professional fight against Isaac Phonkeni at the Raylton Club in Harare.

In an eventful career that has earned him both fame and fortune, he has managed to amass a record 13 belts under global sanctioning bodies that include the African Boxing Union, the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Federation, Global Boxing Union, Universal Boxing Council and the World Alliance Boxing Association.

At the zenith of his calling, he was once rated among the 25 best welterweights in the world in a division then ruled by Floyd “Money” Mayweather who considers himself the GOAT.

And while he may have made a pronouncement earlier in the year that he is calling it quits, Manyuchi's camp has decided to line up a number of fights across the country as a way that he may do so in front of his supporters in their respective areas of residence.

“Charles (Manyuchi) announced his intention to exit professional boxing earlier this year. That position has not changed.

“Instead of one single bout, we saw it fit to give fans in more places a chance to see him in professional action one more time.

“Boxing lovers from Harare and surrounding areas can look forward to a tournament where Charles will deliver his signature moves that made him Zimbabwe’s first world champion.

“We will be holding an auction of a limited number of Charles Manyuchi’s memorabilia on the day and a few lucky ticket holders will also get a chance for a professional autographed portrait with him,” said Monica Cheru, the event manager of the Grand Finale boxing series.

In addition, she said, the bout card will offer an exciting variety with established stars, upcoming talent and female boxers.

“The tournament will start in the afternoon to allow for a family day where the young people will have their chance to tell the story of when they saw the legendary Charles Manyuchi live in action.

“Finally, we are happy to share that legacy that Charles worked so hard to establish and will continue to build lives on through the Manyuchi Boxing Academy which lives on,” she added.

Speaking at the same occasion, the Zimbabwe National Boxing and Wrestling Control Board Acting Chief Executive Officer, Priscila Kadungure, said the tournament would give them time to reflect on the rate of development of the sport in the 2023 period, which has seen a number of local tournaments being hosted.

“Since July, a number of local promoters have risen to the occasion in ensuring the success of such and during this period, we have seen five professional events happening, three of which were international boxing tournaments that attracted boxers from outside Zimbabwe.

“We are there to provide an enabling environment for our local promoters as this will guarantee the realization of the high performance thrust of our boxers through exposure to many fights.

“The Board is making strides in introducing professionalism with regards to conduct at boxing tournaments, tournament organisation, record updates and the timely disbursement of purses.

“There is still a lot of concern on the post career status of most of our boxers once they retire from boxing and in this regard, I implore on the boxers to invest while they still can. We applaud Charles Manyuchi as he has exemplified the importance of investing during the peak of his boxing career. We urge other boxers to follow in his footsteps,” she said.