Ekandjo sings MTC Sunshine Academy’s praises

MTC issued a statement on Monday saying they were pleased with the return on investment from the MTC Sunshine Boxing Academy over the past year.

Just over a year ago, MTC announced a new sponsorship deal with the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy to the tune of N$ 2.5 million per annum over the next three years.

In Monday’s statement Tim Ekandjo of MTC said the decision and choice of sponsorship was timely and spot on.

“The MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy is a worthy investment, worthy of our partnership because they have a winning mentality, they compete with the best and replicate their success and importantly, represent Namibia well against the rest of the world. It is solely because of this Academy that Namibia is rated amongst the best boxing nations, Ekandjo said.

“When you are in the branding and marketing business, you will begin to appreciate what excellent national brand ambassadors these boxers are, worthy of our praise. They are in the ring for 12 rounds live on various international sports TV channels watched by millions of people around the world and sometimes get international viewers and spectators to hear about Namibia for the very first time. The first question they will ask is “where is he from?”, that in my view deserves national praise from those marketing our country as a preferred tourism destination,” he added.

Ekandjo said he was pleased to see the latest World Boxing Organization (WBO) rankings and to see that boxers from the MTC Sunshine Academy featured amongst the best in the world.

Vikapita “Beastmaster” Meroro is currently ranked third in the world in the cruiserweight division where Mario Huck of Germany is the current world champion. Another German, Firat Arslan is rated the number one challenger while Krzystot Glowacki of Poland is ranked second.

“Meroro is the only African in the top 10 in this division and he is in a very good position to challenge for the world title soon and that is remarkable,” said Ekandjo.

Ekandjo said he was proud to see Tyson Ushona ranked second in the welterweight division, amongst some of the world’s top boxers.

“In the welterweight division, a division considered the toughest with the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers such as Timothy Bradley, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, I am proud to see Bethel “Tyson” Ushona right up there amongst the world’s finest. He is rated second, only one place behind Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines, and the current WBO champion Timothy Bradley of the United States.

According to Ekandjo, Tyson stands a very good chance to become the mandatory challenger to the world title now that Timothy Bradley’s fight against Manny Pacquiao has been confirmed for 12 April, 2014.

In the lightweight division, Paulus “The Hitman” Moses is ranked fourth by the WBO, with Ricky Burns of the UK the current title holder, while Terrence Crawford of the USA is there top ranked challenger, followed by Raymundo Beltran of Mexico and Dennis Shafikor of Russia. Moses is however currently the WBO International champion in this division and therefore in pole position for a shot at the world title.

In the bantamweight division, Paulus “The Rock” Ambunda is rated fifth in the world. Tomoki Kameda of Japan is the current champion with Punglung Sor Singyu of Thailand the number one challenger followed by Daniel Rosas of Mexico, ) Randy Caballero of the United States and Ryosuke Iwasa of Japan.

According to Ekandjo, Tomoki Kameda is due to fight mandatory challenger Punglung Sor Singyu in due course, after which Kameda must honour his rematch against Ambunda, which will give him another chance at the world title.

“I am making reference to the above world rankings to highlight how proud we should be as a nation, and quite frankly, we need to give credit where it is due because these guys are great national ambassadors flying our flag proudly across the boxing world,” said Ekandjo.

“When you make such a big investment towards a particular sports code, you do so with certain expectations, and I am happy to confirm that they have impressed us all the way with their professionalism, various accolades, ability to attract large spectators to every event and international performances. I am therefore confident that if things go according to plan, we might soon have four world champions across the different divisions all from Namibia, and that is deserving of our praise and support as a nation,” he concluded.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.