Nestor Tobias’ Top-10 Namibian boxers of all time

NESTOR ‘Sunshine’ Tobias is undoubtedly Namibia’s leading boxing promoter and trainer, who has led the largest number of Namibians to world championships and a multitude others to continental or inter-continental glory.

With so many gifted boxers under his guidance through the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing & Fitness Academy over the years, compiling his list of Namibia’s top 10 boxers of all time was quite a challenge for Tobias.

“Before I pick my top 10, I must confess that a list like this will always be debatable, because everybody will always have their own ideas about it,” Tobias said.

“Even when Ring Magazine and Boxingscene select their pound-for-pound top 10, their list is always debatable, but guided by their own criteria. The criteria I used for Namibia and given our own circumstances are as follows; achievement based on titles won; their CV and quality of opponents fought and where; performance and the manner in which they won and lost fights; and activity level, which means how often they fought or fight at top level and opposition.”

1 HARRY ‘TERMINATOR’ SIMON

Harry Simon became Namibia’s first world champion. He remains Namibia’s only two weight division world champion having held the WBO Jnr middleweight title from 1998 to 2001 and the WBO middleweight title in 2002.

He currently holds the longest undefeated streak in the country’s boxing history. He remains undefeated with 31 fights and no losses and has constantly fought top opponents away from home like Ronald Wright and Rodney Jones.

Simon scored his successes at a time Namibia was suspended from participating in world competitions because of apartheid. I am happy to have fought alongside him in the Springbok National Team and was his sparring partner when he prepared for his fight against Ronald Wright.

For me ‘The Terminator’ definitely takes the number one spot. If Namibia had a Hall of Fame, he would definitely qualify as a member.

2 PAULUS ‘THE HITMAN’ MOSES

Moses is synonymous with the MTC Sunshine Academy. He became Namibia’s second world champion and gave Namibian boxing renewed hope. He won the WBA lightweight title in 2009 in Japan under very difficult circumstances before relinquishing it in 2010.

He got a second bite of the cherry when he fought Ricky Burns for the WBO world title in 2012, a fight he clearly won in the eyes of the public. He went on to compete for another WBO International title against Cassius Baloyi which he won and successfully defended five times, all against top-quality opponents.

In 2018 he once again competed for the WBO world title against Raymundo Beltran to become the first Namibian boxer to fight in the USA. He held various WBO Africa titles and, with over 46 professional fights and winning 40 with 25 KO’s, he definitely comes in at number two.

3 PAULUS ‘THE ROCK’ AMBUNDA

Paulus Ambunda participated at the Summer Olympics. He became Namibia’s third world champion and the second from the MTC Sunshine Academy when he won the WBO bantamweight title against the champion, Panya Uthok, in 2013.

He the lost that title to Tomoki Kameda in the Philippines the following year. He redeemed himself by winning the WBO and IBF international titles against Cristian Palma and won the IBO super bantamweight world title in 2015 against Leandro Esperante from Argentine and defended it twice.

In 2016, he fought WBA interim world champion Moises Flores on home soil and lost. He went on to win the WBC international title and eventually the IBO world title in 2018 which he lost to Stephen Fulton in 2019. He has certainly fought consistently and away from home against top-class opponents, and for me deserves the number three spot. His record is 27 wins and 3 losses.

4 JULIUS ‘BLUE MACHINE’ INDONGO

Winning the Namibian Amateur National Championship title in 2002 set the tone for MTC Sunshine Academy’s third world beater.

Indongo became Namibia’s fourth world champion. Afer defending the WBO Jr welterweight title for a number of times he defeated Eduard Troyanovsky in 2016 for the IBF and IBO world titles in Russia in 40 seconds.

In April 2017, Indongo fought WBA world champion Ricky Burns in what was a unification fight in Scotland and won a one-sided unanimous decision. In August 2017, Indongo took on WBC, WBO Ring Magazine and Lineal champion Terence Crawford in a rare full unification fight which made headlines all over the world.

The entire boxing world was glued to their TV screens for this fight because it was to determine the junior welterweight’s first undisputed champion since Kostya Tszyu achieved this status in 2004. Indongo lost this fight by KO in the third round and the card averaged 965 000 viewers on ESPN.

In 2018, Indongo fought Regis Prograis for the vacant interim WBC title and lost. Indongo has certainly made history and earned his place in Namibia’s boxing history and in my view could have earned a better spot if he continued winning. Indongo has won 23 times with two losses to date.

5 WALTER ‘THE EXECUTIONER’ KAUTONDOKWA

Dubbed as Namibia’s most powerful puncher, Kautondokwa holds an impressive record of 18 wins with 17 coming by knockout.

He came close to becoming Namibia’s fifth world champion when he accepted a WBO middleweight world title fight on two weeks’ notice against Demetrius Andrade in the USA. Kautondokwa displayed bravery and went the full distance despite three knockdowns which earned him the 2019 WBO Fighter of the Year Award.

He now has 20 fights with 18 wins and 2 losses and certainly one of the most dedicated and disciplined fighters I have ever trained.

6 JEREMIAH ‘LOW KEY’ NAKATHILA

MTC Sunshine Academy prospect Jeremiah Nakathila is currently Namibia’s number one boxer and the most highly rated currently at number two on the WBO Jr lightweight division. He is poised to become Namibia’s next world champion.