THE Khomas Region dominated the National Amateur Boxing Championships on Saturday, winning eight of the 11 titles on offer.
Khomas easily won the team category with eight gold medals and two silver medals. The Namibia Defence Force finished a distant second with two gold and one silver medal, while the Karas Region finished third overall with one gold and one silver medal.More than 100 boxers from all 13 of Namibia’s regions as well as the NDF and the Namibian Police participated in the Telecom National Amateur Championships, which took place at the A Shipena School Hall from December 17 to 19. Some exciting boxing was displayed which had the small but vocal crowd up on its feet and cheering the boxers on.Titus Iyambo of Khomas won the Best Boxer of the Tournament trophy after beating Penda Tobias of Karas in the light welterweight final. Tobias landed some sharp jabs in the first round, but Iyambo soon asserted his dominance with some powerful combinations by the second.Early in the third round Iyambo dropped Tobias to the canvas with a barrage of blows and the referee stepped in to stop the fight.Iyambo, who won a gold medal at the 2008 SADC Zone 6 Youth Games, proved that he is one of Namibia’s most exciting emerging boxing talents.In probably the biggest upset of the evening, Norbert Ashivudhi of Khomas beat Johannes Simon of NDF 2-1 in the 54kg bantamweight category.Simon, who won the Namibian Sportsman of the Year award in 2007 after winning a bronze medal at the All Africa Games, came up against a determined Ashivuthi in an action packed fight that had the crowd cheering on in excitement.Simon started on the offensive, launching double handed attacks from the start, but Ashivuthi showed great speed on the counterattack, catching Simon with some sharp hooks. Both boxers maintained a high tempo throughout the fight and by the third round the crowd was cheering wildly as they slugged it out toe to toe in the middle of the ring.It was a very close fight that could have gone either way, but in the end the judges awarded it to Ashivuthi, who won 2-1 on points.In another exciting fight, Elias Nashivela of the NDF beat Walter Kautondokwa of Khomas 2-1 on points in the 75kg middleweight final.Kautondokwa had a big reach advantage and consistently landed with his jab, but Nashivela pushed the tempo from the start and raked up the points with sharp combinations to Kautondokwa’s head and body.Nashivela high work rate gave him the edge as he won 2-1 on points in another close fight.Namibia’s 2006 Sportsman of the Year Jafet Uutoni, who was representing the NDF easily won the 48kg light flyweight title, beating Immanuel Shapaka of Khomas 3-0 on points.In other one-sided fights, Tobias Munihango of Karas and Sirongo Kasera of Khomas both won their bouts on first round stoppages.Munihango won the super heavyweight title when he overpowered Reinhold Humba of Erongo from the start before the referee stepped in to stop the fight, while Kasera overpowered Paulus Jacob of Erongo in the first round to win the 81kg light heavyweight category. Kasera was another gold medallist at the 2008 SADC Youth Games and a great talent for the future.In the 57kg featherweight final, Sackarias Lucas of the NDF outclassed Michael Hamunyela from Omaheke from the start. Hamunyela had to take a standing eight count in the third round as Lucas went on to win the fight 3-0.In the 69kg welterweight final Anthony Jarman of Khomas gave a fine display to beat Johannes Shoombe 3-0. Jarman pushed the pace from the start and raked in the points with some sharp combinations to head and body. Although he looked a bit awkward at times, lunging and missing with wild swinging hooks, he can take it far if he improves on his technical skills and receives good training. – Namibia Sport
