IN my August 16, 2014 instalment, I lamented the continuing plight of boxing promoters and zeroed in on Exodus Boxing Promotions director Anthony Mwamba who was supposed to stage the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) Continental Africa heavyweight title fight between Francis Zulu and Joseph Chingangu in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on February 28.
I wrote that, “Since the first announcement, this bout is being remembered more for its postponements…than anything else.” And, as if to confirm this theory, Zambia Professional Boxing and Wrestling Control Board (ZPBWCB) chairperson Nelson Sapi sounded something of a death knell about the troubled promotion when he said the other day the board had decided to postpone the fight “indefinitely.”
This past week, there was more depressing news, this time from Oriental Quarries Boxing Promotions (OQBO) manager Chris Malunga who announced the postponement to an unknown date of an exhibition fight between World Boxing Council (WBC) silver bantamweight champion Catherine Phiri and Tanzania’s Asaha Ndele which was scheduled for August 30, 2014 in Kasama.
Malunga said the postponement of the fight was due to the slow response from sponsors in Kasama. He said, however, Oriental had already raised K15, 000 out of its K156, 000 budget for the fight.
I don’t know at this writing whether the situation has changed for the better, but what boggles my mind is the arithmetic which makes me realise that this fight can and should to take place if businessmen or the corporate world of Kasama sacrificed K141, 000 to clear the deficit.
The Kasama tournament is significant in the sense that it supposed to be a sequel to the one that kick-started Oriental Quarries’ foray into rural Zambia to arouse interest in the sport while, simultaneously, scouting for talent.
Indeed, it will be recalled that on May 3, 2014, Oriental staged a successful exhibition tournament in Mongu at which female sensation triple champion Phiri traded leather with Joyce Chileshe from Mwenya Musenge Stables of Kitwe in a thrilling bout at Mongu Sports Stadium.
This followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Nalumba Lodges and the Lusaka-based stable, in a rare development that broke with tradition as Oriental partnered with the Mongu-based corporate body instead of doing business with partners from along the line of rail.
They decided, in a year that Zambia will be celebrating its Silver Jubilee, or 50 years of independence, to gift the people of Mongu with an exhibition.
For a long time, the sport of boxing has been concentrated along the line of rail, in Lusaka and on the Copperbelt to be more precise which have had a lion’s share of all professional tournaments.
Yes, some tournaments have taken place at Mazabuka and Monze, but these were amateur and not professional tournaments.
“This (Mongu) tournament is about talent identification which is (in line with) the government policy through our boxing board (the Zambia Professional Boxing and Wrestling Control Board). Boxing should not only be in Lusaka and Copper belt; we need to take it to other provinces, and OQBP is more than ready to open boxing gyms in other provinces,” Malunga told me in an e-mail then.
And yet, having laid the foundation, one would have thought Kasama businessmen would have picked a leaf from the Mongu tournament and used it as a springboard to flex their muscles by supporting the promotion of the second bout in their boxing- starved land.
Surely, if Nalumba managed to sponsor the Mongu tournament, what is it that can stop businessmen from Kasama to come together and dismantle the K141 deficit for the sake of being part of a dynamic development and put Kasama on the map?
Thinking out loud, I hear myself asking: if Kasama Member of parliament Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM) can donate his entire K500, 000 parliamentary gratuity to his constituency, what can practically stop him from putting aside a modest K10, 000 for sponsorship?
Maybe GBM would frown upon this figure as nothing, but the promoter wouldn’t and it could make a difference the staging tournament.
If he did this, again these are my wild dreams, I take it that other businessmen in Kasama might find it in themselves to share the balance one way or another. I realise that it’s easier to write the way I’m doing than it is to find the money, but  then, who said where there is a will there is no way?
Mwale.simon@yahoo.co.uk   0966 755574/0953744074