JEREMIAH ‘Lowkey’ Nakathila declared himself fit and ready, and confident of victory yesterday, ahead of his WBO interim world title fight against Shakur Stevenson in Las Vegas on 12 June.
Nakathila and his team leave for the United States tomorrow and at a press conference organised by the MTC yesterday, Nakathila said he was raring to go.
“We are ready and it’s time for Namibia and Africa to shine. We had a great training camp, so we can’t have better preparation than this and I am ready to destroy Shakur Stevenson. I’ve got it all to do that, so come the 12th, we are going to shine and Namibia will have a world champion again,” he said.
“That’s the road we have been chasing for a long time, so we are there now and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. I think it came at the right time and this time is my time to shine, so I won’t let this chance go to waste,” he added.
Nestor Tobias of the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing and Fitness Academy said that Nakathila will fight on the biggest stage of world boxing.
Ït cant get bigger than this, it’s the biggest stage, when you fight in Las Vegas. It’s the capital of world boxing and everyone wants to fight there, but not everyone can,” he said.
“Come the 12th of June, Lowkey will face Shakur Stevenson, one of the top prospects in the world, and they are already grooming him as the next superstar. He won the silver medal at the Olympic Games, so the whole world will follow this fight and the international media will be there. This is a good platform for Namibia to get onto the world map and Lowkey is going to do that, not just to participate, but we are going to win,” he added.
He said they were well prepared and ready.
“We have prepared very well, we even brought our brother Jeff (Magagane) in from South Africa to help with the sparring, because he’s a southpaw like Stevenson, while we had a lot of other sparring partners to help.
“We know it won’t be a walk in the park and we know what we are facing, but we are not undermining anybody. Hopefully Stevenson is not undermining us but if he does, he’ll make the biggest mistake of his life, because Lowkey is going to go for his blood,” he said.
Tim Ekandjo of MTC said it was a great opportunity for Nakathila.
“This is a massive opportunity that only comes around once every five or seven years and I know that the team has prepared very well for the last two and a half months. When you leave you will be representing your country and the world will get a glimpse of Namibian boxing through you. Maintain your focus and belief, Las Vegas has a lot of bright lights, but you are not going on holiday, so don’t lose focus,” he said.
Ekandjo said that the winner will fight for the WBO world title in August.
“On the 12th of June, Nakathila will make history and then he will face the WBO world champion Jamal Herring in August. There are so many champions that moved up in weight like Oscar Valdez and Shakur Stevenson and then they became the mandatory challengers for the world title, so they made this interim world title and the winner will then fight for the world title,” he said.
Ekandjo called on Nakathila to make a quick end to the fight.
“Don’t leave the decision in the hands of the judges. I still remember when the Hitman Moses fought Ray Beltran, his opponent couldn’t walk for two weeks, but he still won the fight.”
Tobias, meanwhile, said he was negotiating to try and get the broadcasting rights so that Namibians can watch the fight.
“We are still negotiating and the last time I sent them an email they said they would come back to me, so I’m still positive that we will get the TV rights,” he said.
On a question of what he thought about Terence Crawford and Mike Tyson’s public support for Stevenson, Tobias said they were just promoting their own boxer.
“Mike Tyson is my man, I met him, I love the guy, but he’s just promoting his own guy,” he said, while Nakathila added, “none of them will protect him when I destroy him in the ring.”
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