SPORT - BOXING
| 2013-08-07No regrets for Ambunda after title loss
Sheefeni Nikodemus
RESOLUTE ... Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda is confident of reclaiming the WBO bantamweight title.
PAULUS ‘The Rock’ Ambunda is disappointed but does not regret losing his WBO bantamweight title to Japan’s Tomoki Kameda last week, said the deposed champion’s trainer and promoter Nestor Tobias.
Ambunda has been criticised for accepting to fight the highly- rated Japanese in a non-mandatory title defence in foreign territory only four months after being crowned champion.
MTC Sunshine Academy co-promoter Dingaan Thobela was quoted by Sowetan Live as saying they had accepted the offer because “the exposure is huge and the purse money very good”.
Tobias said it was a calculated move that failed to yield the desired outcome.
“... we have absolutely no regrets because we collectively discussed this and agreed that we needed to keep the champ active after he rested for four months,” said Tobias. “We would like to emphasize that our decision to fight away from home was therefore not poor judgment on our side, and that we will also not blame his loss because of that fact but we will concentrate on picking ourselves up and prepare for the future because the future does not entertain any excuses but only hard work.”
The two camps will soon begin negotiations on a rematch, added Tobias.
“Of course fighting away from home means more pressure but when you are a world champion this cannot be used as an excuse, and that is why we are prepared to fight any opponent anywhere in the world. We would of course have liked for Ambunda to do his first title defense on home soil but this cost a lot of money, which we don’t have and the alternative is therefore to defend the title elsewhere.”
Tobias also intimated that the judges, who awarded Kameda a unanimous-decision victory, got the verdict wrong.
He believes the neutral officials - two judges and the referee from the US and one judge from Puerto Rico - he had requested from the WBO were influenced by Kameda’s vociferous supporters in the fight arena.
“It was a very good fight, very entertaining and also very close and Tomoki won on points. Of course we were disappointed because we believe that Ambunda is a better and stronger fighter than Tomoki but the judges saw it otherwise. Ambunda was not at any point during the fight hurt by Tomoki and we look forward to a rematch, which is in our agreement,” said Tobias.
“We are proud of Ambunda’s display in the Philippines, he fought hard and even if he temporarily lost his world title, we are more confident than ever that he will soon get it back and we are therefore not disappointed in that sense because every fight is an experience.”
MTC Sunshine Academy co-promoter Dingaan Thobela was quoted by Sowetan Live as saying they had accepted the offer because “the exposure is huge and the purse money very good”.
Tobias said it was a calculated move that failed to yield the desired outcome.
“... we have absolutely no regrets because we collectively discussed this and agreed that we needed to keep the champ active after he rested for four months,” said Tobias. “We would like to emphasize that our decision to fight away from home was therefore not poor judgment on our side, and that we will also not blame his loss because of that fact but we will concentrate on picking ourselves up and prepare for the future because the future does not entertain any excuses but only hard work.”
The two camps will soon begin negotiations on a rematch, added Tobias.
“Of course fighting away from home means more pressure but when you are a world champion this cannot be used as an excuse, and that is why we are prepared to fight any opponent anywhere in the world. We would of course have liked for Ambunda to do his first title defense on home soil but this cost a lot of money, which we don’t have and the alternative is therefore to defend the title elsewhere.”
Tobias also intimated that the judges, who awarded Kameda a unanimous-decision victory, got the verdict wrong.
He believes the neutral officials - two judges and the referee from the US and one judge from Puerto Rico - he had requested from the WBO were influenced by Kameda’s vociferous supporters in the fight arena.
“It was a very good fight, very entertaining and also very close and Tomoki won on points. Of course we were disappointed because we believe that Ambunda is a better and stronger fighter than Tomoki but the judges saw it otherwise. Ambunda was not at any point during the fight hurt by Tomoki and we look forward to a rematch, which is in our agreement,” said Tobias.
“We are proud of Ambunda’s display in the Philippines, he fought hard and even if he temporarily lost his world title, we are more confident than ever that he will soon get it back and we are therefore not disappointed in that sense because every fight is an experience.”
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