Tobias defends injured fighter

Sebastianus Nathanael was not beaten into submission by Fuzile Azinga in their international junior-lightweight bout on Sunday, says the MTC Sunshine Boxing and Fitness Academy.

The 33 year-old Namibian pugilist retired due to an injury in the sixth round of their ten-rounder in East London, resulting in the South African (28) being awarded a technical knockout victory.

Nathanael’s camp believe the outcome would have been different had he not sustained the injury in the fight hosted by Last Born Promotions in conjunction with KayB Promotions.

“It was a great opportunity for both boxers to improve their world ratings but unfortunately things didn’t go in our favour, both boxers started the fight very well and they entertained the full pack Orient Theatre for the first two rounds,” Nathanael’s trainer Nestor Tobias says in statement.

He refutes that Fuzile’s “body blows sapped the energy of the visitor and forced him to stop fighting back”, as reported by the Herald LIVE.

“Fuzile escalated the body bombardment, virtually sending Nathanael scurrying for cover with the Duncan Village fighter in hot pursuit,” the Herald reported.

Tobias offered an alternative narrative, saying they threw in the towel to avoid Nathanael aggravating the injury.

“Nathanael dislocated his left shoulder in the third round but he continued fighting with the injured shoulder. He complained about the injury during the fight,” says Tobias.

“Me and my corner decided to stop the fight at the beginning of the sixth round and I had to convince the champ not to continue with the injury as he wanted to continue.

“I realised it was very difficult to fight with injury against such a good boxer as Azinga,” he says.

“We went to see a doctor after the fight and he booked the champ off for 30 days. The champ is fine and he would like to thank all his boxing fans and the Namibian nation for their support.”