Namibian boxing promoter Nestor Tobias praised Tyson Ushona’s performance against Jan Zaveck on Saturday evening, saying he only lost the fight because of the referee’s interference.
Addressing a press conference in Windhoek on Wednesday, Tobias said it was a tough fight but the referee had cost him the fight.
“The fight was very tough and Zaveck was well prepared, but Tyson was also well prepared. Tyson fought well but the referee was the hero of the Slovenian people because he was only focussing on Tyson and screaming warnings at him from round one. He managed to deduct points in rounds 4 and round 8 and although he was also warning the other guy, he never deducted points.”
“If it was at a neutral venue he would not get those warnings because it was not an illegal movement that he was doing. You saw, even Mike Tyson, when he was fighting, he was coming in from low and ducking and weaving and as long as you dont go under the belt its not a warning. But this referee made the fight difficult for Tyson and easy for the other guy.
That cost us the fight. Without taking anything away from Zaveck - he fought well, but that gave him the fight.
Tobias said that Ushona and Paulus Moses, who lost a world title fight against Ricky Burns in Scotland on March 11, were well respected and had put Namibian boxing on the international map.
“Tyson is amongst the top fighters now and he’s well respected in the world. We’re not scared to fight anywhere in the world. We go there and fight the champions in their back yards and Ushona and Moses were both the main bouts in Europe, which has done a lot for this country and put Namibia on the map. These two guys have done a lot and their performances were classic,” he said.
Ushona said that he did his best but could not concentrate after the referee had deducted points.
“I went to fight my heart out but unfortunately things did not go according to plan but it was due to certain things that we could not control. The whole fight for me was all good, besides the referee who tried to interfere a lot, he put me under pressure and really made it difficult for me to fight. I couldn’t concentrate especially after he took points off me in the fourth round. I didn’t know what it was for and it discouraged me a lot but I continued fighting as a man and a champion and it just made me stronger and stronger. I learnt a lot because somehow there are certain things you cannot overcome by yourself,” he said.
Ushona said he was disappointed about SMS comments after the fight, that said he and Paulus Moses could not win outside Namibia and that Namibia’s former world champion only Harry Simon could do that.
“It really disappointed us because imagine you are outside your country, fighting for your country without your own support over there and then you hear such comments. But now they must tell us who else fought a champion in their backyard. Now some people are saying it’s only Harry who can win overseas, but not even Harry fought a champion in his own backyard, but we did our best. To our real supporters, we thank you for your support and ask you to continue supporting us and lets make the sport a huge success,” he said.