Professional boxing returns next month

Bond Boxing Promotion in collaboration with the Professional Boxing Association of Botswana (PBAB) are expected to host the country’s first professional (boxing) event of the year on 21st April.

The professional boxing event titled ‘The Encounter’ will be headlined by Bond Boxing’s Tefo Letshikgwane. The Bond boxing star will face Zimbabwe’s Tinashe ‘Cobra’ Mutodza in the international main bout Speaking at the event launch in Gaborone this week, PBAB president Tsietsi ‘Shakes’ Kebualemang said professional boxing is alive and well in Botswana. Kebualemang said   PBAB was officially registered in 2015 to accelerate the progress of professional boxing in Botswana. However, sponsorship and recognition have been an issue as the last professional boxing bill was staged in November last year.

“We are going to continue sanctioning professional boxing events by working with promoters, managers, boxers and any other relevant personnel”. Moreover, Kebualemang said the professional boxing association enjoys cordial relations with amateur counterparts, the Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA). However, Kebualemang said it was unfortunate that stakeholders usually confuse the two as one entity.

In addition, Kebualemang encouraged active boxing promoters to stage more activities, and appealed to the private sector to sponsor boxing events as they come with good mileage. “In professional boxing money talks, we want Botswana boxers to become millionaires and the corporate sector should come on board and support us.” 

Speaking during the same event, boxing promoter Bond Ngubula said professional boxing has revealed that business and passion do not mix. “It was not our intention to stay this long without any fight; this means the boxers have not been paid for over 12 months. Boxing is not like football where you earn a monthly salary. If you don’t fight you are not paid, simple as that,” explained the promoter.

Ngubula explained that due to different challenges they were forced to reduce the number of boxers in their fold. Tefo Letshikgwane, Kgomotso Bok, Patrick Seoko, Olaotse Rannobe and a few other boxers are under the Bond boxing stable.
For her part, Zimbabwean promoter Rufaro Gozhore claimed her boxer is hugely popular in his home country. The promoter said his boxer is currently in Ghana and is expected to come through Malawi before jetting in Gaborone.

Letshikgwane said he is ready to face his opponent. “O tla ikotlhaela gore ko Ghana one a ile go dira eng.” The talented featherweight sent a chilling message to his opponent.  Letshikgwane won his last fight in an impressive display of boxing skill against a South African opponent last year. Supporting bouts of the evening will feature Tshepang ‘Gearbox’ Babui vs. Tshepo Danger Khutloeng, Thabiso Mpolokeng vs. Moreki ‘Python’ Maiketso, Gift Baaname vs. Olaotse Rannobe and Tshepiso ‘kurupt’ Mokgadi vs Moses ‘Rocket machine’ Kamera. The tickets are already on sale P100 while ringside or VIP at P500.