BOXING: Manyuchi looks ahead with fortitude

ZIMBABWE’S World Boxing Council international welterweight champion Charles Manyuchi has not had the best of preparations ahead of his title defence against 24-year-old Colombian Devis Caceres Navarro in Lusaka, Zambia on Saturday.

The boxer spent four days in a Lusaka hospital battling a stomach ailment last week, just a few weeks after his house was raided by thieves while he was engaging in a routine road run.

Manyuchi (25) was discharged from hospital last Thursday and the tough boxer put on a brave face when The Sunday Mail spoke to him last night.

He said he had put all the turbulence behind him and was ready to conquer the Colombian challenger at the Government Complex.

“It has really been a forgettable period for me, coming as it did during my preparations for a career defining bout. At first it was the house-breaking and now this sudden ailment; sometimes you start feeling there are some evil forces trying to distract my course but as a God-fearing man I have taken all that in stride.

“Actually, it could be a way of testing my strength and endurance of pain before the fight. The good thing though is that I have recovered. I am up there now in terms of fitness and we are now waiting for the Colombians to arrive and depart without the belt,” said Manyuchi.

Manyuchi suffered an almost similar circumstance in September last year, when he incurred a wrist injury a few days before his African Boxing Union welterweight title defence against Ghanaian Isaac Sowah, but still went ahead and triumphed.

Manyuchi, with a record of 14-2-1 and whose pedigree should be enough to see him past Caceres Navarro, who has a record of 17-4-0.

Navarro, rated outside the top 40 boxers in the welterweight division by the WBC, will be fighting outside South America for the first time and will be coming into this fight on the back of a defeat in August to Argentine pugilist Jose Carlos Paz, who is also not among the top talents.

The WBC rates Manyuchi 30th in the world, and he has stated his desire to slug it out with the best of the best such as Britain’s Amir Khan (WBC Silver), for the world title currently held by the undefeated Floyd Mayweather of the United States.