Two decorated professional boxers Shungu Kupani from Zimbabwe and Cebelihle Mpanza from South Africa will be in Botswana next month for the third edition of the Boxing Fight Night Championship.
The tournament that will take place on Friday October 2024 at the Annex Hall, Fairground Holdings in Gaborone is an action packed boxing event with exciting five bouts and it is organised by Bond Boxing Promotion.
In an interview, the tournament Marketing and Coordinator Matlhogonolo Tirelo said the main fight of the evening will be between the hard hitting super bantam weight future superstars Thabiso Mpolokeng and Zimbabwe’s Kupani on an eight round non-title contest. She stated that the fight will be a chance for Thabiso to prove his readiness for bigger fights after defeating Mandla Mkandla in October 2023.
“The other bout not to be missed is an international featherweight contents between Kagoetsile Raokgwathile of Botswana and Mpanza of South Africa,” she said.
Tirelo has noted that through the tournament they intend to promote professional boxing and build boxers’ careers to be able to compete at the highest level. She stated that another objective of the tournament is to build professional boxers careers and improve their world rankings that would also improve their monetary gains from the event.
According to Tirelo, the competitors in the tournament are professional boxers registered under Professional Boxing Association Botswana (PBAB). She stated that Bond Boxing Promotion has signed some professional boxers and they also have some foreign boxers they work with.
Meanwhile, Tirelo has explained that Professional Boxing is unique as compared to Amateur Boxing which is regulated by Botswana Boxing Association (BOBA). She highlighted that professional boxers are paid (normally referred to as purse money to fight whether they win or lose). Tirelo said that in Professional Boxing, Boxers are paid according to their profiles, popularity, numbers of rounds and their partners support them either in-kind or in cash.
