Zimpapers Logo

Tadious Manyepo in LUSAKA, Zambia
SHE was the rank outsider in the first place and all the three judges as well as the match commissioner were Zambian in a high stakes contest she squared off against their compatriot didn’t help matters either.

But, rising prospect Kudakwashe Nyagura still applied steel nerves and deposited stern resolve into the match as she stretched the duel all the way to the wire though she would eventually lose the fierce Women International Boxing Association Intercontinental super-flyweight title fight to Alice Mbewe by a majority decision here on Saturday night.

The 19-year-old Zimbabwean female boxer arrived in Zambia as a largely unknown quantity and the thousands that packed Lusaka Government Complex expected the highly-rated Mbewe to finish her off much more earlier before the completion of the eight-round bout but, Nyagura took everything in her stride and had it not been that all the judges were suspiciously biased, she couldn’t have lost an apparent see-saw affair 0-3.

The boxer, who is under the Mau-Mau stable, actually dominated the initial rounds before matching but the judges, who included Francis Chirwa, Frank Munthali and Mebo Mulenga, on the table could not even hand the Zimbabwean a victory up to the halfway round.

Match commissioner Ester Phiri, the legendary boxer who won four world titles in different weight categories before hanging her glooves recently, even reserved special words for Nyagura who showed a big heart under the taxing circumstances to handle Mbewe who also hails from Phiri’s Exodus Boxing Promotions. “We watched some good boxing. It was almost pound for pound. Nyagura is a fighter and can soon conquer the world judging from the way she fought. Very soon, she will be making world headlines,” she said.

Even Mbewe herself admitted Nyagura had given her a good run for her money.

“One thing that l did which l believe carried my day was never to allow myself get tempted to underrate my opponent. By all fairness, she is good, she had me move into the last gear, arguably the most difficult opponent l have ever faced in my boxing life,” said Mbewe.

Nyagura can still challenge for the title inside the next three months as her promoter and manager Stalin Mau-Mau has since indicated.

On a night Nyagura shed tears in disbelief of the outcome after she thought she had done enough to win and struggled to give the media interviews, fighters from the Charles Manyuchi Academy made sure Zimbabwe would find some consolation with outstanding performances in the supporting bouts.