The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
NO doubt, Charles Manyuchi remains one of the most prominent Zimbabwean boxer, a symbol of perseverance and an inspiration to many rural boys hoping to use sport to scale up the social strata.At his pinnacle, Manyuchi was the WBC l Silver welterweight champion and was at one time a mandatory challenger for the gold belt which was then in the hands of the retired legendary Floyd Mayweather.
That was prior to March 2017 when disaster struck as he lost his belt in embarrassing fashion to Uzbek boxer Qudratillo Abduqaxorov in Singapore.Lack of a proper guard, showboating and zero respect for the opponent, were attributed to the Zimbabwean’s first round defeat.Manyuchi was back in the ring on Africa Day at the Harare International Conference Centre last weekend, desperately seeking a comeback in a fight dubbed “Restoration”, which however, ended up failing to live up to its pre-bout hype.His fifth round TKO over Argentine boxer Pablo Ezequiel Acosta, to land the vacant Global Boxing Union Intercontinental middleweight title, has left more questions than answers.The fight generated intense debate on social media throughout the week, with some questioning the pedigree of his opponent, who went into the fight ranked number 833 in the world, while others mocked Manyuchi’s fighting style.Some have likened the Argentine boxer, who has dropped to 940 in the world, to that fake El Salvador team that played Zimbabwe’s Warriors in the run up to the 2004 African Cup of Nations finals.
Others described the fight, which was graced by former Warriors skipper Peter Ndlovu, as an embarrassment to Zimbabwean boxing.“That (fight) was a gimmick, a drama that was overplayed. You don’t go into the ring to clown. Genuine fans did not get their money’s worth,” said a local boxing expert in reference to Manyuchi’s excessive showboating and fighting without a guard.
A boxing trainer described Manyuchi’s style of fighting without a guard as “dangerous and akin to a football team playing without a goalkeeper.”“Before the fight, the referee tells you to protect yourself at all times. You can be caught by a lucky punch and that’s it, the fight is over.
“You can be a good boxer but without protecting yourself it’s dangerous,” said the trainer.
Yet some are also questioning the relevance of Manyuchi’s new belt – the Global Boxing Union middleweight intercontinental title.
The majority of titles under the German based Global Boxing Union, including the middleweight championship, which is a rung above Manyuchi’s belt, are vacant, raising dust over the viability of this sanctioning body.
“GBU is a very small body, it’s one of the smallest and youngest sanctioning bodies in the world, a very fringe title,” reckons a boxing promoter who refused to be named.
“That’s why you find that over 75 per cent of GBU titles are vacant, very few boxers want them, there’s no interest in them. “But you also have to remember that there was no easy way Manyuchi could have resuscitated his career other than going for these lowly belts and carefully chosen opponents.
“Besides, boxing is also about making money, so if it (fight) made business sense for his handlers, then so be it.”
According to boxrec, the world boxing’s official records keeper, only the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) are deemed as the legitimate sanctioning bodies. “Many others that award ‘world titles’ are often derogatorily labelled as alphabet soup bodies,” notes boxrec.Renowned Malawian promoter Craig Rosseau of No Pain No Gain stable, thinks it would not be viable for his boxers to go for belts like the GBU.“To me, it’s not viable for me and my boxers. It (GBU) is not affiliated with the top premium belts which are WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF,” said Rosseau.“But there is nothing wrong in fighting for them, Charlie (Manyuchi) has already fought for bigger titles. In general, if you have already succeeded before and you are now just doing business, then it’s okay. “At the same time belts are belts, I think it gives boxers a chance to then go and vie for more prestigious belts, but obviously they are not on the same level.
“If you want to climb your way up, I don’t feel this (GBU) will be viable,” Rosseau said.
Local promoter Boris Zneider of Black Fist stable agrees the GBU “is not that big”. However, he believes the belt will give Manyuchi some “reasonable international recognition.”
“This GBU is not as big as your WBC, WBA or IBF but it is international, a very reasonable belt,” argues Zneider.
“This is an intercontinental belt which brings together America, Asia, Europe and Africa. This gives you some recognition internationally.”
Manyuchi moved two places up the world middleweight rankings to position 39 after defeating Acosta, and in the process brought himself into the kind of ratings that international promoters want. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez of Mexico, who holds the WBC, WBA and IBF titles is the globe’s best middleweight fighter.
Kazakhstan pugilist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is number two with the United States of America’s trio of Daniel Jacobs, Jermall Charlo and Jeff Horn completing the top five.
