The spell of chilly weather at the coastal town of Swakopmund over the past ten days was briefly interrupted by the heat and controversy generated by the Under-20 boxing tournament at the Meduletu Community Hall on 14 July.

The event attracted a large crowd of boxing lovers who came to witness the country’s fastest growing sport.
Comprised of junior and senior categories, the tournament also offered one heavyweight bout. The aim of the event, according to the organisers, was to prepare Erongo-based boxers for future national and international competitions.
Sixty-six boxers were expected to take part in the event, but not all turned up, as some were not plainly ready for battle and others were fearful of opponents. One such, was Gephardt Ipinge who was due to participate in the junior category, but vanished before his bout against Mateus Hitewa; Ims Shaanika’s opponent also refused to fight.
The judges came in for criticism for questionable decisions, such as the fight between two times undefeated middleweight world boxing champion Harry Simon’s son Simon Jr., who, despite having clearly lost his fight against Frans Valombola in the junior category was favoured in a split decision by the judges. Informanté Sport witnessed the fight, during which the audience started asking for the removal of some judges.
One of the organisers, Albertus Tsamaseb, who runs the Erongo Development Boxing Club, said he was thrilled by the commitment from all the boxers and the turn-out of the fans, who were cheering enthusiastically throughout, but he was however not happy with some of the judges’ decisions.
Meanwhile, the anticipated bout between the female boxers, Hanna “Tiger Girl” Nghishilenapo of Swakopmund and Martha “Iron Punch” Tjihua of Windhoek, could not take place as Tjihua had other pressing commitments; she is also a keen footballer and was on national duty with the Brave Gladiators in Windhoek, thus Nghishilenapo, who was due to make her first bout appearance in the ring, won by default.
The tournament will be used as preparation for those boxers expecting to take part in the zone 6 championships to be held in Lusaka (Zambia) in December this year.