Local Sport
Assassin wants world title before calling it quits
NAMIBIAN welterweight boxer Ali ‘The Silent Assassin’ Nuumbembe says he won’t quit the sport before landing a world title.
“Age is not an issue for me now. What matters is the world title. I want to tell everyone that Ali Nuumbembe will not lose again from now on until I win the world title,” he said.
Nuumbembe was speaking ahead of his World Boxing Organisation (WBO) African welterweight title fight against South Africa’s Samuel Malinga scheduled for September 12 in Windhoek.
Nuumbembe will have a shot at the African title, which is currently vacant, but eyes the world title in that division which he says is his main aim from now on.
He said he was happy to be given the fight against one of South Africa’s top boxers because it will bring out the best in him.
“I have seen Malinga fight in the United Kingdom. He is a very good boxer and I am very happy to fight him. I expect a tough fight and it is generally good to fight boxers of his calibre,” he said.
Malinga is a former World Boxing Council welterweight champion and three-time South African champion and has won 21 of his 28 professional fights. He has lost five times, with one draw.
Nuumbembe, who is a captain in the Namibian Defence Force (NDF), has a fantastic record of 22 wins from 27 fights to date, while he ended on the losing side four times, with one draw.
Nuumbembe, who turned 31 on June 24, has had a rather rocky pro career in his quest for the elusive world title.
He won the Commonwealth welterweight title from Kevin Anderson at the Fife Ice Centre in Kirkcaldy on February 16 2007 but lost it to Mancunian southpaw Craig Watson in Wigan on December 8 the same year.
He returned to Namibia in 2008 after he spent five years in Derbyshire in England and moved up a gear as he grabbed the Pan-African welterweight title against South Africa’s Welcome Tshingila.
Nuumbembe could have also landed the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Africa welterweight title against South Africa’s Bongani Mwelase, but lost through a disappointing seventh-round technical knockout in Parys, South Africa.
In that fight, Nuumbembe had the chance to clean up his opponent already in the fourth round, but left it too late to be given a ‘Sunday punch’ by the taller South African who was undefeated at the time.
Nuumbembe recorded a historic victory against German southpaw Daniel Kaefer on a fourth-round technical knockout in Windhoek last October.
Nuumbembe has an outstanding amateur record of 155 fights, 144 wins, 11 losses and a hefty 63 knockouts spanning a 10-year period. According to Namibian boxing promoter and trainer Nestor Tobias, the fight will be the highlight of Nuumbembe’s professional career this year, after numerous opponents pulled out at the last minute to face him. “Some of the opponents who were supposed to take him on for this title were declared unfit to fight him after they failed medical examinations. But this time, Ali will go into the ring with a credible and experienced boxer.” Tobias announced that there will also be other fights which will include two national title fights, while the main supporting bout will see Namibia’s Vikapita ‘Beast Master’ Meroro taking on South Africa’s Smart Nkomo in a light heavyweight bout over ten rounds.
Abraham Ndaedapo will take on Gottlieb Ndokosho in a junior lightweight national title fight, while the other national title is a bantamweight fight between Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda and Tommy Nakashimba.
The sensational Sacky ‘Izi-Nyooka’ Shikukutu has a date with Zimbabwe’s Takudzwa Kuchocha in a junior welterweight bout, while Julius Indongo is expected to slug it out against Pohamba Mandume in a rematch for a lightweight national bout.
Peter Malakia and Albinu Felesianu will square up in a lightweight national bout over six rounds as one of the undercards.
Tobias said the tickets will cost N$500 per person, including a three-course meal, while a table seating six people will cost N$3 000.
corry@namibian.com.na
