TWO-TIME Commonwealth flyweight boxing champion Zvenyika “Mosquito” Arifonso’s “dark” past is haunting his present.

It seems he cannot run away from his shadow as his life has always been associated with controversy.

He has tasted it all, the good and the bad in a boxing career that spanned 13 years and saw him rise through levels of fame before sinking to unexpected depths, serving eight months in jail for stealing a neighbour’s radio.

From a peak that saw him drive around in nice cars, lavishing with city ladies and at one time staying in South Australia where they even offered him citizenship, Arifonso’s social status has terribly nosedived.

However, as much as he regrets some of his actions when the sun was still shining on him, “Mosquito” feels that the society, especially the corporate community, has judged him harshly as he bids to re-establish himself in the boxing mix.

“It pains me when people continue to refer to my dark past. I am a man now, I have grandchildren and a different character altogether.

“Every man makes his own mistakes, why can’t people learn to forgive and forget?” asked Arifonso as he adjusted his sitting posture preparing to hammer his point home.

He was in the company of another legend, George “Mastermind” Shaya, the five-time Soccer Star of the Year winner who is regarded as the best ever Zimbabwean footballer by many.

The two were brought together through a recently launched “Clean up Mbare” campaign which is being co-ordinated by a local freight company, Anlink.

Both Arifonso and Shaya’s lives have something to do with the capital city’s oldest suburb Mbare.

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They both made their names through sport, they are both revered in Mbare, the home of Zimbabwean soccer giants Dynamos, the club that built Shaya’s fame.

But the similarities end there.

While Shaya, who has been reported in some media circles to be suffering from dementia, is still involved at his beloved club where he is a board member, boxing seems to have forgotten about Arifonso.

Mosquito, as he is popularly known in boxing circles, was feted like a king in the late 90s.

Who wouldn’t want to be associated with a boxer who had knocked out a Scottish boxer in his own backyard to land the coveted Commonwealth title?

“Beating Paul Weir of Scotland on January 28, 1998 was the highest point of my career because suddenly I became an internationally recognised boxer.

“I remember President Mugabe saying I had not only beaten Weir, but I had also beaten imperialism out of the imperialists. That statement still rings vividly in my mind,” says Mosquito with a lit up face, evident of someone suffering from nostalgia.

The Mbare-bred pugilist went on to defend his title six months later, again knocking out another Scottish boxer, Keith Knox, in less than two minutes in Glasgow, Scotland.

“Those victories came with both money and fame. As you know, where there is a combination of those two (money and fame) there are also many risks.

“When you are a celebrity there are so many forces against you, women will come to you, beautiful ones, and sometimes you cannot resist. It happens to most men, I am not the only one who has succumbed to that.

“Maybe I lacked proper guidance, being someone who never really went to school probably I took things for granted,” said Arifonso who began school at the age of 11 and could only go as far as Grade Two.

Mosquito lost his Commonwealth title to Damaen Kelly of Northern Ireland in December 1998 but continued to dominate the local scene.

That, however, was the beginning of the end, the purse wasn’t as fat and by the time he hung up his gloves in 2006, he had deteriorated into a near pauper.

At 40, Zvenyika, who is now a grandfather, has nothing to show for his eventful boxing career.

He has ventured into boxing promotion and training through his Mosquito Boxing Stable, but the sorry state of the sport in the country at present has not helped his case.

“I have a 15-year-old son, Zvenyika Jnr, he loves boxing so much, but inside I feel he will not get anywhere with this sport.

“I am a former two-time Commonwealth champion, but I do not have a gym, no gloves, no head gears, and yet people call me a legend.

“No one is willing to help me revive this sport, no company is willing to assist me. When I approach them asking for financial support, all they see in me is that notorious Mosquito from Mbare, they doubt me.

“What they do not realise is that hapana munhu asina history yake . . . I tasted both the good and the bad, yes, I erred, but don’t I deserve a second chance?,” questioned Mosquito.

“This is about resurrecting a sport that was once in a comma but is now virtually dead,” he added.

Does he (Arifonso) really deserve a second chance, is he the only sports star who has mismanaged his finances or has been arrested before?

Internationally, there are a number of cases of boxing personalities who went through the same route but were rehabilitated and with a sound financial backing are now up and about.

Renowned promoter Donald “Don” King, now 83, was once incarcerated for manslaughter and fraud in the late 60s but rose to become an iconic boxing personality.

He even went on to organise “The Rumble in the Jungle”, the historic heavyweight clash between Mohamed Ali and George Foreman held in the then Zaire in 1974 after his release.

Weir, who lost that famous Commonwealth title fight to Mosquito in 1998, was also jailed for 30 months after he was found guilty of supplying illegal drugs in 2003 but has since recovered and is now a fully fledged boxing trainer in his native country.

Are the local corporate companies, whose top executives hogged the headlines with unrealistic mega salaries, justified to measure the integrity and history of others?

“It pains me how boxing has slumbered in this country, when I walk down the streets in Mbare or in the city centre, people ask me ‘Mosquito sei mauraya boxing kudaro?’

“The corporate world should intervene, boxing was in a comma but now it is virtually dead, we can’t have a situation where we go for three years without a tournament.

“Yes, we can talk of Manyuchi (Charles) but he is more Zambian than Zimbabwean, he fights in Lusaka and his promoters are Zambian. What can he do, we do not have promoters here.

“We have lost champions in the past; Thamsanqa Dube won the African heavyweight title but was stripped simply because no promoter arranged a title defence bout.

“The same goes for Tinei (Maridzo), a gifted boxer who lifted the World Boxing Organisation African Super Middleweight title, but again lost it because he failed to defend.”