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Ellina Mhlanga

Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN boxer, Tinashe “Chairman” Mwadziwana, says he is going back to the drawing board after he lost the African Boxing Union featherweight title fight to Namibia’s Nathaniel Kakololo over the weekend in Windhoek .

Mwadziwana, who was challenging for the ABU title, was knocked out in the eighth round.

The Deltaforce Boxing Academy boxer had hoped to overcome the effects of a long break, from the ring, and beat his opponent.

However, Kakololo proved the better boxer, winning the match in the eighth round.

Mwadziwana admitted he lost to a good boxer.

“The fight was okay. But I think ring rust really affected me because I was coming from a long break, so it really affected me.

“Those guys are always active, so I lost the fight in the eighth round by a knock-out. The fight was good but tough.

“It’s painful to lose but I am going back to the gym, start preparing again, yes, I have lost but it’s not the end.

“We move on and focus on the future,” said Mwadziwana. His trainer and manager at Deltaforce Boxing Academy, Clyde Musonda, believes the limited training, due to lockdown restrictions, coupled with a long break, contributed to the defeat.

“It was a tough fight but what I have seen is that the challenge that affected him was ring rust, because it has been a long break since his last fight, and we went straight to the ABU.

“We did prepare the best we could, during the lockdown, but some things did not go well because we had limited time, equipment and resources.

“We got an opportunity and we didn’t want to miss it, so we had to go for it and we did our best with what we had,” said Musonda.

Musonda said they had some promises, in terms of sponsorship, but things did not go according to plan, and had to cater for everything on their own.

However, he is pleased his boxer put up a good challenge, despite losing.

“Boxing is a game, so we win or lose, we are still going to go back to training and see what we can do.

“We did our best, without any sponsorship, but we know that next time we will come back strong.

“The boy put up a good fight that everyone, including many here in Namibia, said that he was a tough challenger,” Musonda said.

The two are expected back in the country tonight.