SPORT - BOXING
| 2013-07-30Ambunda ready to rock
Helge Schutz
THE REAL DEAL... Namibia's Paulus 'The Rock' Ambunda (right) is targeting the defence of his WBO bantamweight World title in Cebu City in the Philippines on Thursday.
PAULUS Ambunda is in top shape as he heads into the ring on Thursday to defend his WBO bantamweight title against Tomoki Kameda of Japan in Cebu City, in the Philippines.
Ambunda and his Namibian support crew have been training in Cebu City for the past week and according to promoter Nestor Tobias, Ambunda is ready to defend his title.
Ambunda and his Namibian support crew have been training in Cebu City for the past week and according to promoter Nestor Tobias, Ambunda is ready to defend his title.
“The champ is very positive and ready to defend his title. This is our title, and our national asset and we aim to bring it back to Namibia,” he said.
“Ambunda is in good shape, that is why I took extra days to acclimatise although it is very expensive here, but I’m doing it for my country I love so much,” Tobias added.
Ambunda has been working out at the Citigym in Cebu City where he has been the centre of attraction, with numerous boxing fans and journalists attending his training sessions.
Ambunda has been in impressive form with one local journalist referring to him as the ‘real deal.’
“Ambunda should be a daunting assignment for Tomoki because the 32-year-old Namibian seems like the real deal,” a journalist wrote in one of the Philippines newspapers.
Ambunda is also highly confident and told the Philippines daily the Sunstar that he would punish Kameda.
“I will take him the full distance and punish him each and every round. His style is only good in Japan and not in the rest of the world. He is used to fighting weak people and he has never fought me before,” he was quoted as saying.
The 22 year old Komodi, who is unbeaten after 27 fights vowed to knock Ambunda out, but the Namibian just laughed at the thought.
“It’s not easy for a rock to be broken. You can take a hammer and try to break it. If he believes he can break me, then he is dreaming,” Ambunda said.
Komodi will be aiming to make boxing history on Thursday evening. If he wins the fight, it will be the first time in history that three brothers will be world champions at the same time. His 26-year-old brother Koki Kameda is the current WBA bantamweight champion, while his 24-year-old brother Daiki Kameda is the WBA flyweight champion.
Komodi, too, was confident of victory.
“Of course there is pressure because my two brothers have become world champions.
But I turn the pressure into power and I am confident that I will win,” he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, it seems highly unlikely that Namibian fans will be able to watch the fight on television after the NBC failed to acquire the TV rights.
According to Tobias, the rights were offered to the NBC for N$450 000 but they failed to come up with the funds.
“The NBC confirmed to me that they have not managed to secure a sponsor and that they will thus not be able to show the fight - this is despite earlier indications from the NBC that they would be able to show the fight live,” said Tobias.
“We are obviously disappointed because fighting away from home for a national sports icon like Ambunda requires support from home and even though we know the support is not physically at the fight, just knowing that fellow Namibians are watching and cheering us on means a lot to the boxer psychologically. This fight will be watched live across the world because it is a world title fight and it is therefore disappointing that everybody except Namibians, where the champ comes from, will be able to watch it, but that is beyond our control,” he added.
Yesterday, Tobias said that the NBC could still acquire the rights if they wanted to.
“I understand they cannot get a signal direct from Japan but that is not a problem, because they can always turn it around if they are interested.
They can get the signal through other countries, as the technology is available, but it is up to them to buy or not to buy, the TV rights are available for Namibia, but at a cost,” he said.
“The NBC is not really concerned, but it is not good for the Namibian nation as Ambunda is a big icon and the only athlete at that level right now in Namibia, so we need to support him,” he said.
The NBC’s Executive Sport Producer Sakkie Shikufa did not want to comment and referred questions to Umbi Karuaihe Uppi of the marketing department, but she was not available for comment.
“Ambunda is in good shape, that is why I took extra days to acclimatise although it is very expensive here, but I’m doing it for my country I love so much,” Tobias added.
Ambunda has been working out at the Citigym in Cebu City where he has been the centre of attraction, with numerous boxing fans and journalists attending his training sessions.
Ambunda has been in impressive form with one local journalist referring to him as the ‘real deal.’
“Ambunda should be a daunting assignment for Tomoki because the 32-year-old Namibian seems like the real deal,” a journalist wrote in one of the Philippines newspapers.
Ambunda is also highly confident and told the Philippines daily the Sunstar that he would punish Kameda.
“I will take him the full distance and punish him each and every round. His style is only good in Japan and not in the rest of the world. He is used to fighting weak people and he has never fought me before,” he was quoted as saying.
The 22 year old Komodi, who is unbeaten after 27 fights vowed to knock Ambunda out, but the Namibian just laughed at the thought.
“It’s not easy for a rock to be broken. You can take a hammer and try to break it. If he believes he can break me, then he is dreaming,” Ambunda said.
Komodi will be aiming to make boxing history on Thursday evening. If he wins the fight, it will be the first time in history that three brothers will be world champions at the same time. His 26-year-old brother Koki Kameda is the current WBA bantamweight champion, while his 24-year-old brother Daiki Kameda is the WBA flyweight champion.
Komodi, too, was confident of victory.
“Of course there is pressure because my two brothers have become world champions.
But I turn the pressure into power and I am confident that I will win,” he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, it seems highly unlikely that Namibian fans will be able to watch the fight on television after the NBC failed to acquire the TV rights.
According to Tobias, the rights were offered to the NBC for N$450 000 but they failed to come up with the funds.
“The NBC confirmed to me that they have not managed to secure a sponsor and that they will thus not be able to show the fight - this is despite earlier indications from the NBC that they would be able to show the fight live,” said Tobias.
“We are obviously disappointed because fighting away from home for a national sports icon like Ambunda requires support from home and even though we know the support is not physically at the fight, just knowing that fellow Namibians are watching and cheering us on means a lot to the boxer psychologically. This fight will be watched live across the world because it is a world title fight and it is therefore disappointing that everybody except Namibians, where the champ comes from, will be able to watch it, but that is beyond our control,” he added.
Yesterday, Tobias said that the NBC could still acquire the rights if they wanted to.
“I understand they cannot get a signal direct from Japan but that is not a problem, because they can always turn it around if they are interested.
They can get the signal through other countries, as the technology is available, but it is up to them to buy or not to buy, the TV rights are available for Namibia, but at a cost,” he said.
“The NBC is not really concerned, but it is not good for the Namibian nation as Ambunda is a big icon and the only athlete at that level right now in Namibia, so we need to support him,” he said.
The NBC’s Executive Sport Producer Sakkie Shikufa did not want to comment and referred questions to Umbi Karuaihe Uppi of the marketing department, but she was not available for comment.
