Corry Ihuhua
17 November 2008
ALI 'Silent Assassin' Nuumbembe will go for a rematch against South Africa's Bogani Mwelase for the World Boxing Federation (WBF) welterweight world title early next year, trainer Nestor Tobias confirmed yesterday.
Nuumbembe, who went in as the challenger, was stopped by Mwelase with a technical knockout in the seventh round of the fight held in Parys, South Africa, on Friday.
The title is now vacant because defending champion Mwelase had to relinquish it hours before the fight, as he weighed in about 2 kg more than Nuumbembe.
His weight was beyond the maximum 66 kilograms for welterweight boxers, but the fight could not be cancelled at the last minute.
Nuumbembe can now have another go against the same opponent, according to Tobias.
Tobias told The Namibian Sport yesterday that Nuumbembe will go for a re-match next year.
"We are for sure going for a re-match.
We don't know when and where the fight would be, but we are going to launch a serious bid for it again.
There is no doubt about that," said Tobias.
He said he was not happy with the decision by the referee and thinks that his boxer could have been given an eight count as he was in trouble for the first time of the fight.
"But despite that, I am happy for my boxer.
He has proved himself a worthy contender and I know that in the next fight, we will not make any mistakes and will take him out," said Tobias.
Mwelase got Nuumbembe with a lucky right hook that completely unsettled the normally composed Namibian and he was unfortunately ruled out of the fight, with a technical knockout in 2 minutes and 22 seconds of round 7.
Nuumbembe told The Namibian Sport after the fight that he suspected that his opponent was getting tired by the fifth round and wanted to finish him off.
"I was suspecting that he was getting tired and as I was closing on him, I must have exposed myself too much and was caught by one of his punches.
That was a blow for me, but I still had the strength to continue had the referee not decided to call off the fight," said Nuumbembe.
It was only his fourth loss in 25 fights, while Mwelase extended his winning streak to 13 wins without a loss.
Nuumbembe said he was in good shape and he hoped that the referee could have given him at least an eight count so that he could continue the fight, which in his view was heading for a famous victory for himself.
Despite the loss, Nuumbembe said he was happy with his performance and will now go back to the drawing board and re-focus on the next fight.
"I will go back to my family and I will assess the fight and will for sure put all the wrongs, right," said the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) captain.
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