Omuthiya countdown starts

The countdown to Saturday’s boxing bonanza in Omuthiya Park has started, with the main protagonists promising some explosive displays in the ring.

At a press conference in Windhoek on Tuesday, Paulus Ambunda came face to face with his opponent Cristian Palma of Chile for the first time, as did Tyson Ushona who will meet Ebenezer Lamptey of Ghana in the main curtain raiser.

Palma, who will meet Ambunda for the vacant WBA and IBF International Super Bantamweight titles, said he was confident of winning the fight.

“I came here to win and I will show Paulus Ambunda on Saturday. I normally fight at featherweight or lightweight but super bantamweight will be easy for me.”

“I want to thank the promoter for giving me a chance to become the new champion, because I only came here to win the fight,” he added.

Ambunda, who will be fighting for the first time since he lost the WBO bantamweight world title in August last year, said he was ready and confident of reaching the top again.

“Come Saturday night I will be an example to all. Last year I became the world champion and I want to repeat that again so I’m looking forward to the fight, so that I can shine again,” he said.

Ushona, who will defend his WBO Africa welterweight title against Lamptey in the main curtain raiser sounded supremely confident.

“I’m in tremendous shape and I’m unstoppable. I have trained so hard, I am ready, and I promise my fans a great fight. I believe it’s time for a knockout and this kid should be ready for it. I’m going to punish this kid and I’ll be smart on Saturday night,” he said.

Lamptey was less talkative, but was also in confident mood.

“I have nothing to tell the fans, but I will do my talking in the ring,” he said.

Meanwhile, boxing promoter Nestor Tobias promised boxing fans a great night of boxing and entertainment.

“We have some world class fighters here, while there will also be exciting boxers on the undercard like Jafet Utoni, Mike Shonena and Baluka Johannes.”

“We are going to entertain the people, we’ll have Gazza and the Dogg performing there and some DJ’s as well. We are going to be sunrising in Omuthiya so don’t worry if you don’t have accommodation, we will party till dawn in Omuthiya,” he said.

The Oshikoto district coordinator, Armas Amukuiyu said the Governor of Oshikoto, Penda Ya Nangolo had invited all boxing lovers to attend the event.

“The Omuthiya Governor is looking forward to meeting you all and we extend our invitation to all boxing lovers to come and join us in Omuthiya,” he said.

“For us this is an extraordinary activity and the first of its kind, especially since it will be an international event. We are very excited and thank Nestor and the MTC Sunshine Academy for bringing the event to Omuthiya. We are very happy to see Paulus Ambunda in action because he is a product of Omuthiya, so it’s an honour for us to host this event,” he added.

Tim Ekandjo of MTC said they hoped to pack the venue on Saturday night.

“It’s not easy to take fights outside of Windhoek so we want to thank the organiser Armas for his hard work. We had 6 800 people in Outapi and I hear the venue in Omuthiya can accommodate 10 000 people, so we would like to break that record. I’m delighted to see Paulus Ambunda back in the ring and I know it’s just a matter of time before he makes his mark as a Super Bantamweight. Then we also have Tyson Ushona in action, who is one of the best welterweights in the world and could soon be fighting against Manny Pacquiao,” he said.

Ekandjo also announced that MTC had donated a 1.6 Toyota Corolla to the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy as a mark of appreciation for the hard work that Tobias and the Academy was doing to put Namibian boxing on the world map.

“This is a token of our appreciation that you are bringing world class fights to Namibia and this will help you and your staff members to get around the country to do your work,” he said.

“This comes as a surprise, but when you work with the best you can always expect positive results,” Tobias quipped.

The entrance fee for Saturday’s fight is N$50 and N$500 for VIP tickets. The first bout starts at 18h30 while the gates will already open at 15h00.