🇿🇦 Countdown to Mandela African Boxing Cup Tournament in Durban, South Africa, April 15-21
FIRE!! IN LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT This weight class promises to be a masterclass show in Durban
There’s every indication the light-welterweight division will be one hell of a cracker in the eagerly awaited Mandela African Boxing Cup tournament at the International Convention Centre (ICC) from April 15-21 in Durban, South Africa.
Enter Olympic bronze medallist Ghana’s Samuel Takyi who’s now the African Games champion.
Bring on two-time Africa champion Algeria’s Jugurtha Ait Bekkah.
Add on Commonwealth Games silver medallist Richarno Colin of Mauritius and Uganda’s Commonwealth Games quarter-finalist Joshua Takamuhebwa.
That’s not all. There’s DR Congo’s punching machine Mulumba Mbaya and Eswatini’s Moscow-trained Thabiso Dlamini.
Who else? Yes you guessed it right. South Africa’s never-say- die John Paul Masamba who’ll be fighting at home and has an axe to grind with most of his adversaries especially Jugurtha for eliminating him in the semi-finals of the Africa Olympic qualifiers last year in Dakar, Senegal.
Ooooh yeees we also have Zambia’s giant killer Emmanuel Katema who demolished Jugurtha at the African Games in Accra but found Takyi a difficult opponent to handle in the finals, returning home with a silver medal.
Three-time Olympian Richarno Colin will be in Durban to let off steam on his opponents after failing to make it in the Italy World Olympic Qualification tournament.
He has lost twice to Jugurtha. First in the finals of last year’s Africa Elite Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon and in Dakar during the Africa Olympic qualifiers. Should they meet in Durban, expect an explosion. Colin is very bitter with Jugurtha for denying him a chance to make history by becoming the third African boxer to take part in the Olympic Games four times.
That’s how the light-welterweight berth has become one of the most competitive weight classes in Africa.
Jugurtha has been the dominant warrior here but he met his match in Zambia’s Emmanuel Katema in Accra.
The Big Question: Who will carry the day in Durban in the light-welterweight division?
Be there to witness Africa’s elite boxers and the rising stars battle it out in this brand new tournament in honour of liberation struggle icon and South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela.
📸 Algeria’s two-time Afric champion.Jugurtha Ait Bekka (left) trades leather with rival Richarno Colin of Mauritius in the finals of the 2023 Africa Elite Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon. The two will be among the elite boxers to feature in the scramble for supremacy in the light-welterweight division.
✍🏼 AFBC Communications