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Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
COULD budding heavyweight boxer Trevor Mpofu just be what the doctor ordered to revive interest in local boxing?
Top professional boxing coach Phillip Striker Ndlovu believes the time is “nigh” for the Mzilikazi lad to be respected. He believes his confident boxer who stands at almost two metres could just be the “real deal.”

Even Charles Manyuchi’s exploits on the international scene in the last three years have not been enough to inject life into this once popular discipline.

Manyuchi holds the World Boxing Council (Africa) welterweight belt.

The welterweight champion has become a bigger celebrity in Zambia where he is based than in his native Masvingo Province.

When Thamsanqa Dube burst onto the scene a few years ago, Zimbabweans jumped to their feet to say another “Man Mountain” like the late legend of the same division Kilimanjaro had come. Dube beat who ever came his way in a country where only a handful graduate and proceed to the professional ranks from the amateur division of boxing.

That boxing used to fill stadia is information gathering dust in newspaper libraries or something to recall for those who were already grown up and following the sport in the 1980s.

There was something about Dube at his best. He had a terrific jabbing game and was a furious puncher who took as much punishment as he meted out to guys like Joseph Ramos Phiri, Arigoma Chiponda, Smart Nkomo and Gardner Ndingwa.

His crowning moment was winning the World Boxing Association (Africa) title in 2009 in a knockout of favourite Jack Els. That should have been his first step to international stardom but unfulfilled promises by fake managers and promoters put his boxing chapter to an end. That was the end of hope for the sport in a decade that had the likes of Sipho Moyo, Ambrose Mlilo, Nokuthula Tshabangu, Amansa Nhenjana, Otis Manyuchi, Arifonso Zvenyika, Fredrick Chisoro, Clyde Musonda and Shepherd Donzva quitting for one reason or the other.

Dube had, through Phillip Striker Ndlovu and the late Jeff Dube of Rampage Ring Promotions, been the odd name that was close to branding the sport. His fights at New Windermere, Reynolds Inn and Hotel School were able to draw true boxing fans from as far as Gweru, Hwange, Masvingo, Beitbridge and Harare.

When Dube was floored by a young and lighter Flo Simba in South Africa in August of 2011, that seemingly marked the end of local boxing. With promoters unable to get sponsorship for bills, the sport needed something close to a spectacle to ignite the hope Bulawayo promoters had breathed into the sport.

Mpofu, a protégé of Zimbabwe renowned boxing trainer Striker, stunned the nation two weeks ago when he said he was challenging Dube for the national heavyweight belt.

For four years Dube has not been challenged on local rings. He is certainly ‘ring rusty’ while the belt is gathering dust at his Pumula East home.

Striker says the nation should expect a “hit” in the young boxer.

“He isn’t a hoax but a champion in the making. It’s not that he had nothing to do on that particular morning when he walked into the Chronicle office to announce his intention of fighting Thamsanqa Dube.

“He’s ready to be champion. He’s a young boxer with so much potential and it would be folly for the local boxing community not to take him seriously. Mpofu is a good boxer for the future and what he needs is just the big stage,” said Striker who is his coach.

Striker said Mpofu, who is about 91kg now, might be too light for a heavyweight but his frame is showing clearly that keeping him in the cruiserweight division would not be an easy thing.

“He’s growing and will even be a bigger boxer than what he looks now. He has a long reach advantage, he jabs and moves well in the ring and will give many a good run for their money. At 22 and going on 23 this is the right time for him to explode onto the scene,” said the veteran boxing gaffer.

Clyde Musonda who is promoting the young boxer’s next fight set for March 28 with Dube in Harare, says a new hero could be on the way to the podium.

“I was in Bulawayo recently and I was fascinated with the boy’s sheer punching power. He’s a gem in the making and I hope he can take as much punishment as he gives out. If he’s able to do that then we’ve a champion in the making,” said Musonda.

Asked if he was ready for the big stage last week, Mpofu said he stood by his word.

From the Dube fight, Mpofu might have another hurdle in Elvis Victor Moyo who is based in South Africa.

Moyo is the unofficial Zimbabwe number one heavyweight pugilist but still needs to fight on local soil to prove his mettle.

He has done well in South Africa combining both cage fighting and conventional boxing to sustain a living.

The local boxing board has not been that active because promoters and boxers have failed to come up with local fights due to lack of sponsorship.

Funding has emerged as the biggest threat to Zimbabwe sport with even more popular disciplines like football suffering.

Only time will tell if Mpofu is a ‘day dreamer’ or a champion in the making.

Because of a dearth in the heavier divisions he has only fought once in the professional ranks and is a former Zimbabwe National Youth Games gold medal winner in the amateur ranks.