Kakololo in confident mood

NATHANAEL Kakololo left for Kiev yesterday in confident mood of winning the WBO intercontinental featherweight title against Oleg Molinovsky of Ukraine on Saturday night.

Kakololo, who has only lost one of his 13 pro fights to date, with 11 victories and one no result, is also the current Africa Boxing Union featherweight champion, but he will face a tough opponent in home town favourite Molinovsky who has an impressive record.

He is still unbeaten after 27 fights, with eight coming via knockout, while he won the WBO European featherweight title in 2016 and has racked up nine victories since then.

At a press conference hosted by MTC yesterday, Kakalolo, however, said he was ready and confident of winning the title.

“I’ve said this many times – champions don’t get ready, champions stay ready. I’m the ABU Africa champion, and my preparations have gone very well. My opponent is a southpaw and I have been preparing against the best southpaws in the country, the likes of Jonas Matheus, Marthin (Mukungu), Bernard Bernard, and Jeff Magagane from South Africa. I have prepared so well and I can’t wait for Saturday night to become the WBO intercontinental champion,” he said.

“I want to thank MTC for investing in us as well as my promoter, my coaching staff, my sparring partners and my fans out there,” he added.

Kakololo acknowledged that he will face a good opponent, but remained confident of victory.

“He’s a good fighter and he’s undefeated, but he has never faced me and come Saturday night, I’m going to make him swim in deep water.”

John Ekongo of MTC said boxing had grown a lot since their investment into the sport.

“We look forward to Namibia being represented on the international stage. Boxing is now the number two sport code in Namibia, and that’s also because of MTCs investment,” he said.

“We are trying to tell the world watch out, Namibia is doing very well. We also told all the boxing stables to put in a big effort and to aim for world titles, because we want the world to take notice of Namibia’s boxers. Good luck Natty, remember you are representing Namibia and you are an inspiration for all our boxers,” he added.

Fredrich Nghiyolwa of MTC Salute Boxing Academy said their hard work was bearing fruit.

“It’s days like this when we are appreciating the hard work that we have put in and thanks to MTC, we have showed that when you put in the money, we will reward you with tangible success.

“I’d like to single out Kiriat Kamanya for his visionary leadership of the MTC Salute Boxing Academy and making sure that we keep the ball rolling despite our success. It was difficult in the beginning, but we are now starting to bear the fruits of our labours. I’d like to ask the nation for their support, so that we can come back with the title,” he said.

Kamanya said they are starting to reach their goals.

“I’m a happy man today – if I look back to when we started Salute Boxing Academy, at our first press conference, I said we must have a world title in three years time and now I can say we are nearly there.

“I don’t doubt that Natty will win, I trust him, I know how hard he works in the gym, and I know that he will bring the title back home. Thanks to MTC, we are very grateful for what you are doing to empower boxing in Namibia,” he said.