HARARE - Former Zimbabwe middleweight boxing champion Mordecai Donga (pictured) is on a mission to bring back the glory days in the sport.
Speaking at the official launch of his Big Fish Boxing Promotions in Bulawayo last week, the former pugilist vowed to play a leading role in the revival of boxing in the country.
“We are a team of young brilliant men who are not only trying to make names for ourselves but also want to revive the sport and take it to greater heights,” Donga said.
“We have a number of fights lined up for this year and by May we should have staged an international fight either in Bulawayo or in Harare.”
Donga is the president of the boxing stable that was previously known as Mordecai “Big Fish” Donga Boxing Promotions.
Collen Mugodzwa and Jermaine Chapfiwa are the first and second vice presidents respectively.
In his address during the press conference, Mugodzwa said they had come up with a budget of $35 000 for the May international boxing extravaganza.
“There is an over 80 percent unemployment rate in the country and we believe this initiative will help alleviate that and we have appealed to the corporate world to join hands with us,” Mugodzwa said.
“The response from the corporate world has been tremendous and many companies have shown their willingness to partner with us.”
Zambian boxer Amos Mufuma is pencilled to feature in the main event, a light heavyweight bout.
His opponent will be a local boxer whose identity the organisers chose to keep under the wraps.
Three of the supporting bouts are set to feature local boxers against their Botswana counterparts. Donga however, was quite clear that his stable will be out to promote fresh talent and boxing fans should therefore not expect to see any big names at the May event.
“Our focus as Big Fish is not to go after big names. We are grooming new champions who will take the sport to a better future.
“From those boxers we wish to produce not only national and continental champions but world champions,” Donga said.
Veteran boxing coach Philip Striker is the resident coach at the Big Fish Boxing stable and brings with him years of experience having worked with the likes of Donga himself and heavyweight champion Thamsanqa Dube.
The stable has in the past been involved in promoting local boxers that participated in international title fights in Namibia.