The making of a world champ

Langton Nyakwenda recently in MUDZI

Picture a rural boy walking close to 30km daily to and from secondary school, Chifamba High – a remote learning institution hidden between Mudzi and Mutoko districts.

Life in the sticks is not easy. That is something we all know. Many boys like this one only look forward to getting a few cows, marrying the village belle, manually tilling unyielding land and watching their children grow up to be just like them.

But that is not the story of all such boys.

At Chifamba High, at the turn of the millennium, a man called Ottis introduced boxing.

Ottis was a boxer and a soldier, stationed at Mudzi 2.2 Infrantry Battalion some 20km before Kotwa Growth Point on the Harare-Nyamapanda Highway.

His son liked playing soccer, tearing away on the left wing with real zeal. He was also decent streaking down the 100m track. But the sweet science bug his father had caught and the boy turned to boxing.

Ottis’ son hung a sand-filled punching bag on an acacia tree, locally known as muunga, and pounded it daily.

Unlike most budding boxers of his age who terrorise classmates, Ottis’ boy was a softy and a responsible lad, even becoming deputy headboy at the modest school whose enrolment is now 511.

Most times, there was only one set of gloves for sparring sessions and Ottis’ son would share one glove each with sparring partner and childhood friend David Shoko, whose parents were also based at Mudzi 2.2 Infantry Battalion.

That boy pounding a sand-filled punching bag and sparring with just one glove is now a world champion.

His name is Charles Manyuchi.

“(Manyuchi) was a brilliant soccer player. I remember he was also part of the Mashonaland East soccer team that went for the 2005 Youths Games held in Chinhoyi. Whilst there, he also challenged the best boxers at the tournament and he beat them all and won a gold medal,” reminisces Shoko.

That was the beginning of a boxing journey that would take Manyuchi through Hwange, Chiredzi and Masvingo before he was snapped by Oriental Quarries of Zambia in November 2012.

James Nyamaropa (60) was the education officer for Sports, Arts and Culture for Mudzi district when Manyuchi was drafted into the Mashonaland East National Youths Games team in 2005.

“Boxing was not that popular at his school but word of his talent spread to our offices and we paid him a visit. Being someone from a boxing family, Manyuchi had a strong passion for the sport. He was focused, disciplined and believed in his talent.

“When he won his first gold medal, we paraded him to the province and from then onwards we had more boxing enthusiasts joining the club at the Kotwa Resource Centre,” Nyamaropa recalls.

Manyuchi’s school report was not that impressive. He went up to Ordinary Level but it was his discipline, humility and dedication that struck many.

The community of Kotwa remembers Manyuchi as a peacemaker, a reserved young boy who could not even scare a church mouse. Compare this to the brashness of Floyd Mayweather, the ferocity of Mike Tyson and the mouth on Dereck Chisora.

“Charles wasn’t a cocky character . . . we had trouble with some of his peers who did boxing and martial arts but Manyuchi was a quiet lad; always trying to make peace with other students. Perhaps since the other students were aware of his superior boxing skills vaimutyira kure,” says Charles Kaitano, who taught Manyuchi in secondary school and has been with the institution since 1998.

“The boy was not so bright, but you could see a certain self-determination. He had endurance -a quality probably developed through walking so many kilometres to and from school.

“One day he had a sparring session with his father Ottis . . . it was top stuff, man, but not for the fainthearted though,” laughs Kaitano as he leads us through the school.

From such humble beginnings has arisen a man who is on the verge of conquering the boxing world.

The 27-year-old Manyuchi is now World Boxing Council silver welterweight champion and is now being mentioned in the same sentence with global superstars like Danny Garcia and Amir Khan.

World title fights co-ordinator for the WBC, Tito Gonzalez Rodriguez, has put another seal of approval on Manyuchi’s pedigree in a chat with The Sunday Mail Sport last week.

When asked about the possibility of Manyuchi getting six-digit fights in the bright lights of the MGM Arena, Caesar’s Palace and the T-Mobile in Las Vegas, Rodriguez said: “Of course, the possibility exists, it would be a matter of an agreement between promoters.”

When Manyuchi’s rise is reported in various media and the possibility of a million dollar bout is touted, such news is the stuff that makes some of his childhood friends wonder if this is the same boy they saw working on a sand-filled punching all those years ago.

Those who were close to Manyuchi when he was growing up in Mudzi say they always believed he would go places.

Chifamba High headmistress Beauty Zamisa calls Manyuchi an exemplary alumni and the best product from the school since its establishment in 1981.

“Last year he was here and he promised to help in the finishing up of that Geography laboratory,” Zamisa says as she points to a building still under construction.

“Everyone here looks up to him, apart from our local Member of Parliament Magna Mudyiwa, Manyuchi is the greatest product to come out of this school. He supports us a lot, we do our sports budget with him in mind,” chuckles the proud headmistress.

Last July, Manyuchi was hosted by President Mugabe, who rewarded him with US$50 000 after he successfully defended his WBC International belt in Italy against Gianlucca Freeza.

Early this month, he outclassed pre-bout favourite Dmitry Mikhaylenko of Russia to land the coveted WBC silver welterweight title, pocketing close to US$40 000.

Manyuchi’s local sponsors, Mr T35, bought him a Jeep Cherokee last week and the gifted pugilist is now a proud owner of three houses in Chivhu Town.

What a fairytale rise for a boxer who once fought for Z$10 against Ali Phiri – who is now his local trainer -less than 10 years ago.