Fillipus ‘Energy’ Nghitumbwa wants to fight the undisputed super-bantamweight champion, Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue.
Arguably considered Namibia’s best prospect at the moment, Nghitumbwa (15-2) has called out the top three super bantamweight contenders he believes are stepping stones to getting to Inoue (29-0).
Nghitumbwa feels he has proven his worth and ability, following recent impressive wins following a controversial loss to Filipino John Riel Casimero in May 2023.
The Namibian’s camp claims to have beaten Casimero “convincingly on his home turf, despite shockingly not getting the decision”.
Nghitumbwa bounced back with a first round stoppage of South Africa’s Thato Bonokoane in December 2023, and followed that up with a comfortable unanimous decision over China’s DeKang Wang in March last year. He then stopped former world champion Yukinori Oguni of Japan inside the opening round at Yokohama in October 2024.
“My immediate goal is to fight the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) top three – Sam Goodman, Carl James Martin and Dennis McCann,” Nghitumbwa says of his hit list.
“These will be tough fights, and I respect all of them, but I know I will defeat them. And once done, Inoue will have no way to hide but to fight me.”
Nghitumbwa is trained and promoted by one of Africa’s most successful promoters – Nestor Tobias from the MTC Nestor Sunshine Promotions. Tobias produced three world champions, former WBO and World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight world champion Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses, ex-WBO and International Boxing Organisation (IBO) bantamweight champion Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda and Julius ‘Blue Machine’ Indongo, who held the WBA and International Boxing Federation and welterweight world titles.
Tobias believes Nghitumbwa can join that exclusive club.
“Energy is a special fighter with incredible power and boxing intelligence. I have developed a lot of world champions and in him I see the next super bantamweight world champion,” says Tobias.
“We have invited the top WBO contenders, but they all do not want to fight him – home or away. We will go after them one by one to ensure he claims his rightful place in the division.”
“He belongs at the top and we want him in the ring with the top guys. Our message to them is stop taking any fight just to secure your ranking. The contenders in the top 15 should fight each other so that we can see competitive fights,” he adds.
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