The Sunday Mail
Gilbert Munetsi
Peter “The Sniper” Pambeni left Harare for Namibia on Wednesday ahead of a weigh-in for the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) global super featherweight title bout against Jeremiah “Low key” Nakathila at the Windhoek Country Club and Resort scheduled Saturday evening.
Pambeni was accompanied by his manager Stalin Mau Mau.
The tournament – for which the Pambeni-Nakathila match is the main draw card – is being promoted by Nestor Tobias’ Sunshine Boxing Academy with sponsorship being provided by MTC.
This is the second trip by Pambeni to Namibia within three months and the third in his professional boxing career.
In the previous two assignments, he managed to snatch victory from Siegfried Kaperu in an international friendly before, just recently, beating Albinus Felesianu to clinch the World Boxing Organisation Africa title for which he is the current holder.
But Nakathila seems to be a different cup of tea altogether judging from his boxing resume that has seen him win the same title that Pambeni now holds (WBO-Africa) a record six times.
Peter Pambeni (left) faces Jeremiah “Low Key” Nakathila in the weigh-in and face-off at the Windhoek Country Club and Resort
Nakathila subsequently had to relinquish the African title following his elevation to the WBO Global which he will be defending against the Zimbabwean Saturday.
Pambeni said in a telephone interview from Windhoek he would give his all and ensure the title comes to Zimbabwe since he has put in a lot of work going into the duel.
“It is all systems go for me and I am hopeful that my country folk and I will be celebrating yet another achievement by one of their own. The homework has been done and we just await the bout to take off,” he said.
Nick-named “Low Key”, Nakathila is one of the best from the crop of many-a-champion boxers from Namibia and out of his 19 outings to date, he has won 18 times (14 of them by way of knockout) and lost just once. The sole loss was a WBO inter-continental bid against a Russian opponent away in Ekaterinburg. Nakathila is the Number 1 super-featherweight in Namibia and globally, he is rated Number 40.
On the other hand, Pambeni is also the top boxer in his division in Zimbabwe, but carries a 285th world rating. The 30-year-old pugilist from Epworth has convincingly won the last seven fights and drawn twice to achieve a record of W17 (KO6)-L3-D3.
Different from the WBO world title, the Global belt was introduced a year ago as a stepping rung to the ultimate former crown.
The 30-year-old boxing sanctioning body – WBO – is recognised by the International Boxing Hall of Fame as one of the four major world championship groups alongside the WBA, WBC and IBF.
Among its current and past champions in the various divisions are the likes of Anthony Joshua, Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Vladimir Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao, Saul Alvarez, Andy Ruiz and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
