Joseph “Smokey” Hilongwa’s fight for the vacant WBA Pan – African Flyweight title against South African Doctor Ntsele that was scheduled for August 28 has been postponed.
Kinda Nangolo, Hilongwa’s trainer and promoter of the fight said they did not have enough money to host the fight.
“The main problem we encountered was the funding. We only had N$10 000 that we were given by Agribank and that was obviously not enough,” Nangolo said.
“The other problem we faced was that the boxers that we had invited to fight on the undercard bouts from Zimbabwe cancelled at the last minute,” he added.
“We could not get Namibian boxers because we have past experience with them also cancelling at the last minute,” Nangolo continued.
Nangolo said that the fight would definitely take place in September.
“We have rescheduled the fight and it will definitely take place in September. We signed a contract with Ntsele and he agreed to the postponement.”
“We have also already paid money to the WBA for us to be able to host the match in Namibia, so the fight will definitely take place, even if it’s later than planned,” Nangolo added.
Ntsele has a record of five fights, with three wins and two defeats since he turned professional. His last fight was earlier this year on January 22. He fought against fellow South African Thabiso Moorosi, and beat him on a technical knock out in the third round of a six round bout.
Hilongwa on the other hand has a record of nine fights with eight wins and one no contest. His last fight was in Windhoek on 22 May this year when he beat South African Rangxa Vuyisile by technical knock out in the sixth round of a 10 round bout.
The other Namibian fighters who were expected to fight on the undercard were Tommy Nakashimba, David Iita, Lucas Ndafoluma, Chris Ukelo and Albinu Felisiano.