Miguel Acosta and his camp heaped praise on Paulus Moses and promoter Nestor Tobias and said they would gladly come back to Namibia to give Moses a rematch. Speaking at a press conference, barely 11 hours after Acosta dethroned Moses as the WBA world lightweight champion, Acosta praised Moses for being a ‘great warrior.’
“I fought against a great warrior and although he lost, he is still a very good fighter. I am ready to give him a rematch because he deserves it. We were well treated in Namibia and I believe we will be back here. It’s just a matter of my promoter fixing a rematch with my manager for me to come back here,” Acosta said.
“I’m very thankful to the Namibian people, particularly Nestor Tobias and his team. They have treated us very well and we are very thankful,” he added.
“I encourage Paulus Moses, my friend, to continue fighting. He had a bad night like anyone can have and he can become a champion again. That’s what I can tell my friend Paulus Moses,” he added.
Saying it was a ‘bad night,’ Moses said he was determined to come back.
“I want to thank all my fans in Namibia and throughout the world who supported me throughout my career. I had a bad night because I lost my title, but that’s part of the game. I made a mistake but I will go back to the gym and solve it with my trainer. I will just train harder so that I can challenge for the title again,” he said.
“I congratulate the new champion Miguel Acosta for winning the title – congratulations my brother. I will now go back to the gym and come back stronger so that I can make our nation happy again,” he added.
Acosta’s father and promoter Oscar Acosta said that they would consider giving Moses a rematch.
“Our friend Paulus Moses should not be discouraged. One bad night does not mean it’s the end of his career – all great boxers experience this. If he is determined I am sure he can come back because he has the condition. We can look at a rematch, if you like to take it. We also have other boxers in Venezuela and I’d like to exchange some boxers with Namibia and Nestor Tobias – they can come here or we can go to Venezuela,” he said.
Teddy Singleton of Don King Promotions congratulated Tobias and the Namibian government for putting on a ‘great extravaganza,’ and said that Moses still had a future as a boxer.
“We know that Moses is not done yet. He is a great young man and he will be back. Nestor Tobias will rehabilitate his career. It’s been knocked off track a bit, but if we can rebuild it quickly then it will be a mere pimple on the road to progress,” he said.
Singleton congratulated Tobias for organising a great boxing extravaganza, saying that he had campaigned hard to stage the fight in Namibia.
“Don King had other options like staging the fight in Venezuela, but Nestor Tobias campaigned hard to stage this fight. Namibia is a beautiful country and we will be back. Now I know why Angelina Jolie came here to give birth – I might come back to create birth myself,” he added to much laughter.
Singleton said it was up to the WBA world sanctioning body to decide whether Moses would get a rematch.
“The sanctioning body will determine (whether Moses will get a rematch). They will look at the rankings, while it’s a process of elimination. We will lobby for our guys and we will put in a strong bid (for Moses) but we will abide by the body’s rules,” he said.
Tobias congratulated Moses on a brave performance, saying that it did not go his way on the night.
“The Hitman put up a brave fight but unfortunately for Namibia it did not go his way, but it went Acosta’s way. But the sport of boxing benefited a lot. Paulus Moses is still a champion for the Namibian nation – in the history of this country he will always remain a champion,” he said.
“We congratulate Miguel Acosta on winning the world title. Well done and feel free to come back to Namibia,” he added.
Tobias said that they would now ‘go back to the drawing board’ and that Moses would come back stronger.
“Paulus Moses has been a good ambassador for Namibia. He has had 25 good fights and one bad night does not cancel the others out. We support him and his commitment to the sport – that’s why we have a lot of champions today like Paulus Ambunda, Matthew Haikali and Vikapita Meroro, because the Hitman has been an inspiration for them,” he said.
Tobias said that although Moses lost, sport was the winner.
“We had about ten countries participating last night. Sport unites people and makes people happy or sad, but in the end, sport is the big winner. I appeal to the nation to support sport to unite our nation,” he said.
Tobias said that Moses would come back stronger from the experience of suffering his first defeat.
“The Hitman will come back stronger and I promise you he will win the world title again. What you saw last night was not the Hitman that we know,” he said.