Moses on track for another world title shot

PAULUS Moses is still on track for a third crack at the world title after his victory against Crispin Moliati of Malawi over the weekend.

Moses gave a professional display before beating Moliati on a seventh round technical knockout and his promoter Nestor Tobias believes that he can still make it to the top.

“The Hitman has still got it. He’s extremely fit, he’s got the speed and a strong jab. He showed great character and we have to give him another world title shot, he deserves it,” he said.

Moses was rated sixth in the world by the WBO before the fight, but his ranking will now improve, according to Tobias.

“The new WBO rating will come out at the end of the month and The Hitman’s ranking will go up, he could even become the mandatory challenger for the world title, so he’s getting closer now,” he said.

Moliati was originally scheduled to fight Namibia’s up and coming super featherweight champion Jeremiah Nakathila, but when Moses’ original opponent, Benoit Vela of the DRC failed a medical test the day before the fight, Moliati was roped in as a last minute replacement for Moses.

“Before we flew them in we asked Vela’s management for his medical report and they sent it to us and said he was 100 percent fine. But he failed a second medical here in Windhoek, so we had to come up with a quick replacement. Moliati had a great record so the WBO and the Namibian Boxing Control Board sanctioned the fight,” Tobias said.

Tobias was also full of praise for Sakaria ‘Desert Storm’ Lukas who beat Cosmos Cheka of South Africa on a unanimous points decision over 12 rounds.

“Desert Storm showed the people what a big heart he has. He gave a mature performance and listened very carefully to my instructions in the corner,” he said.

“We know Cosmas Cheka, he’s a good boxer, but in the fight Desert Storm showed he can punch and he can take punches and now he is ready for bigger things,” he said.

“If you get a prospect like him, you must protect him, but he’s a good prospect for a world title fight,” he added.

Namibia’s WBO Africa middleweight champion Walter Kautondokwa maintained his unbeaten record but he was given a tough workout before beating Med Sebyala of Uganda on a tenth round TKO. Tobias said the fight was a good test for him.

“It was a good test for him – he made a few mistakes, but he has a lot of potential. A lot of the big guys can only punch, they cannot box, so he needs to improve his skills. We know he can punch, but he must start using his jab, and working on the inside and using the uppercut more,” he said.

Regarding Immanuel Naidjala’s defeat to South Africa’s Siboniso Ngonya, Tobias said that Naidjala was not mentally prepared and had underestimated his opponent.

“He is a very brave fighter and will go down in the history books as one of Namibia’s greatest fighters. But he needs to prepare mentally for his fights, he was overconfident, and that cost him, because he underestimated his opponent,” he said.

“He’s like my own son, I love him, but he needs to work on his mental preparation,” he added.

Tobias, however, said Naidjala would come back stronger.

“Prince will come back stronger again. He trained very hard for the fight and was very fit, but if your mental preparation is not right, it does not help. But we are going to help him and he will bounce back,” he said.

Tobias said his task was made more difficult after suffering cuts due to head butts from Ngonya.

“He received big cuts from head butts, but we managed to stop the blood from going into his eyes. He was unfortunate to receive a standing eight count, because to me it looked like he slipped,” he said.

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