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Albert Marufu  in LONDON, England
ANOTHER day, another time, different venue, different opponent, but same old story of disappointment for Zimbabwe-born England-based boxer Tamuka Muchapondwa.

His welterweight non-title fight against Bulgarian Teodor Nikolov was called off at the last-minute owing to lack of time.

Muchapondwa and Nikolov were scheduled to trade leather in a four-round bout as an under card to Nigeria-born boxer Larry “The Natural” Ekundayo and his British opponent John Thain’s European International Boxing Federation title bout at London’s York Hall last Friday.

Ekundayo won the prestigious European belt through an unanimous decision, but Muchapondwa was not lucky as he could not get a chance in the ring.

“The fights overran their scheduled time. I was scheduled to fight at 11:30pm and the hall was booked up to 11:00pm.

“I am disappointed, but this happens a lot in boxing. Sometimes organisers anticipate technical knock-outs in some of the fights. “Our fight was even originally scheduled for six rounds but reduced to four before being called off,” he said.

A distraught Muchapondwa also took to his Facebook wall to register his disappointment soon after the cancellation of the fight.

“I am lost for words. Due to fights overrunning on the show, my fight has been called off. A few hours ago, I spoke about the amount of setbacks I’ve had to face over the last 14 months.

“This is another one. I begged the venue managers to let me on. Pro boxing can be a cruel game. I’m very sorry to my friends and fans, who came all the way down to support. “I’d like to thank my team for their unconditional support. Once again, lost for words.”

This is fifth time Muchapondwa has failed to showcase his massive talent with his last fight being against Cameroonian international Serge Ambomo on May 5, 2017. Ironically, this is the Harare-born pugilist’s only dent in 17 professional bouts.

In February, Muchapondwa was forced to pull out of the British welterweight title fight against German national Freddy Kiwitt. It was the fourth time the Reading-based 24-year-old pugilist’s attempt of landing the English welterweight title were dashed as his Irish opponents John O’Donnell, the previous opponent, thrice pulled out of the bout citing injuries.