NAMIBIA Breweries Limited (NBL) through their new King Lager beer brand on Thursday announced they had thrown their weight behind the IBO and WBA super bantamweight world title unification fight in Windhoek on 7 May.
Namibia’s IBO champion Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda will take on WBA title holder Moises ‘Chucky’ Flores from Mexico in a groundbreaking contest for the country.
That allure, which presents the King Lager brand international exposure, is why NBL have partnered with the MTC Sunshine Academy in a deal worth N$250 000, the brewing company’s manager of sponsorships Ian Stevenson said.
“We’re actually very new to the ring. We’ve got a new and exciting Namibian brand and we decided to use this opportunity to put our weight behind boxing,” he said.
“We really hope that the boxing tournament will be a success. We look forward to a long relationship with boxing. Hopefully we can put some heavyweight behind boxing in future,” said Stevenson.
NBL is only the second corporate to back the “super fight”, dubbed ‘Celebrate Your Own’, after MultiChoice Namibia who has pledged N$200 000.
That leaves the organisers still needing to raise just over N$5,4 million to meet the projected N$6 million required to stage the fight.
The organisers intend to collect a significant sum through selling prime time advertising space on national broadcaster NBC and SuperSport, who will beam the fight across Africa, parts of Europe, USA and Mexico.
The fundraising drive will also include gala dinners and an SMS competition.
“We applaud Namibia Breweries for getting on board this initiative. Six million is a lot of money. We still have a long way to go. Truth be told, we will not cover the entire amount through selling ad space,” said the event’s headline sponsor MTC’s spokesperson Tim Ekandjo.
“We are not thinking about the event not taking place. But it will be a catastrophe if this fight does not happen. It will be a bad reflection on all of us.
The world will ask why a rich country with so many corporates couldn’t find N$6 million to stage the fight,” Ekandjo added.
Additional funds may be sourced from government, however that is not guaranteed as Namibia Sport Commission chairperson Vetumbuavi Veii explained.
“We definitely see the value of this event, however we need to understand the procedure. The Sport Commission caters for amateur sports in the country. Whatever funds we receive from the line ministry [of sport] is for amateurs and not professionals and that’s the category where this event falls,” Veii said.
“However, I advise the organisers to engage the minister and permanent secretary of the [sport] ministry with regard to the contingency fund that falls under the ministry. I am willing and able to assist in this regard,” said Veii.
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