Manyuchi’s tips on boxing Covid-19

05 Apr, 2020 - 00:04 0 Views
Manyuchi’s tips on boxing Covid-19 Manyuchi

The Sunday Mail

Sports Reporter

CHARLES MANYUCHI would have staged his title defence at the Harare International Conference Centre last night, but that World Boxing Federation fight was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has frozen all sporting events across the globe.

Manyuchi (30) was supposed to defend his WBF middleweight world title against Muhammad Sebyala of Uganda.

He is now under lockdown at his farm in Chivhu.

The former World Boxing Council Silver champion has not stopped training and he is also urging Zimbabweans to obey instructions meant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“Today (yesterday) was supposed to be our day, the day we would have beaten the opponent and retained our WBF title.

“Everything was in order, Sebyala would have fallen in Harare and Zimbabwe would have celebrated, but life is more important than boxing, hence the need for people to follow all the instructions during this lockdown,” Manyuchi said yesterday.

“That is why I have retreated to the farm, where we are training every day. No one comes in and no one goes out, we are following the instructions.

“We do not know when this pandemic will end but tentatively we are looking at staging the fight around May 29 if all goes well.’’

The boxer is already preparing for life after boxing and has invested in livestock production and dog breeding.

He also owns a fleet of commuter omnibuses.

Manyuchi has also hinted at retirement from the sport “in two years”, but he still harbours ambitions to return to the top echelons of boxing.

Once ranked amongst the top-10 welterweight boxers by the WBC, Manyuchi has fallen down the pecking order, especially after March 2017 when he lost his WBC Silver title to Qudratillo Abduqaxorov in Singapore.

At one time, Manyuchi was a mandatory challenger for the WBC welterweight gold belt, which was in the hands of the now-retired boxing legend, Floyd “Money” Mayweather.

However, Manyuchi is still ranked amongst the top-50 middleweight boxers in the world, and is one of the only three Africans on that elite list.

“I have not lost hope; there is a strong possibility of me getting back to the top. I am working towards that and that is why I am taking this WBF title defence seriously.

“But like I said, for now life and health are more important and I am urging Zimbabweans to stay at home during these 21 days. Worldwide, all the nations are on lockdown, we just have to do it.

“I know for most of us it is difficult to stay at home completely because we survive from hand to mouth, but we have to sacrifice a bit.

“You only live once. If you die, then that is it. But you can still survive a few days of hunger and still carry on with your life once this is over.

“Let us all continue praying for our beloved nation Zimbabwe, things will be back to normal soon,” said Manyuchi.

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