MATIAS Hamunyela will represent Namibia at the Rio Olympics next month after establishing himself as one of the continent’s top amateur boxers in the 49kg light flyweight category.
Hamunyela won a silver medal at the African Olympic Qualifier in Cameroon earlier this year to reach his dream and now the 23-year-old boxer is determined to make his country proud in Rio.
“It felt great to qualify because that was always my dream, and now I’m inside my dream, I’m living my dream. I want to get a gold medal at the Olympics,” he said.
“The training is going well and I feel that this is my time to make history. I’m hundred percent ready, I’m like a soldier prepared for war, I am fully equipped,” he added.
Hamunyela was a latecomer to boxing and only took up the sport at the age of 18 while in Grade 9 at Onanghulo Combined School in northern Namibia.
“When I was at school I used to read about boxers like the Rock Ambunda and Hitman Moses and they made me fall in love with boxing. They inspired me to also become a world champion one day,” he said.
Matias started training with a cousin at a gym in Oshakti and after a week entered a competition where he won a gold medal. He won four more fights and then decided to give up his schooling and concentrate on boxing.
“I lost both my parents when I was young so I grew up with my brothers and sisters with my grandmother. I was thinking if I go further in school, who will help to pay for my school fees, so I decided to leave school and look to boxing to make my life a little bit better. I decided I’m good in boxing so let me work hard so that I’ll become someone one day.”
He moved to Windhoek and joined the Nampol Boxing Gym and made his debut at the National Championships in 2012. He failed to medal there but won several other regional fights and by 2013 was included in a Namibian team that competed against Angolan boxers in Ongwediva.
Matias was in great form and won both his fights in style to win the Boxer of the Tournament trophy.
In 2014 he once again won the Best Boxer award at the National Championships in Rundu, and started representing Namibia in more tournaments throughout Africa.
At the African Championships in East London, South Africa he won a bronze medal but he was devastated when he was not selected for the Namibian team to the Commonwealth Games later that year.
“I was very disappointed and I just wanted to stop boxing. I felt that these people are just trying to put me down. But some of my friends advised me to carry on, saying these things happen in life and my time will come one day. So I decided to go back to the gym.”
In 2015 he won two silver medals – at the Zone 4 SADC Championships in Botswana, and at a Four Nations tournament in Zambia, losing narrowly out on the gold medal after losing both fights 29-28.
But he kept on training hard and later that year made his mark at continental level when he won a silver medal at the All Africa Games in Congo-Brazzaville.
This year he went to the African Olympic Games qualifier in Cameroon where he won a silver medal to book his ticket to Rio.
With a bit of luck and timing he could have even won the gold medal, but he had to withdraw from the final after injuring his knee while warming up for his semifinal fight.
“I was supposed to fight a boxer from Cameroon in the final, but I couldn’t fight because of an injury to my knee. I was supposed to win the gold medal and that boy was even scared of me because I beat him before at the Africa Cup in East London where I outclassed him, and then they didn’t want to fight me,” he said.
“Unfortunately we went to the weigh-in first to tell them I am withdrawing due to an injury. So when they heard that I’m not fighting, their boxer started running to lose weight so that he could make the weight limit. So that’s how he won the gold medal,” he added.
But as a silver medallist, Matias had reached his dream of qualifying for the Olympics – a dream that he is now living.
One on One with Matias Hamunyela
When and where were you born?
In Epuku village in the Ohangwena region, on 15 October 1992.
Where did you go to school?
Onanghulo Combined School.
Who had a big influence on your life?
What are your strengths as a boxer.
I’m very fast. When I started boxing I watched Manny Pacquiao – that guy is the fastest boxer around so I thought I want to be like him. That’s why when I’m in the gym I always work on my speed. I’m the fastest boxer in my weight category in Africa.
What are your ambitions?
