Tobias stirs a hornet’s nest

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Award-winning Namibian boxing trainer and promoter Nestor Tobias has released a list of what he termed the top 10 Pound for Pound boxers in Namibia.

Tobias on Tuesday sparked a debate in the boxing industry when he listed 10 boxers and five boxing prospects in a personal opinion piece that went viral on social media.

“Any Pound for Pound list will always spark debate because every promoter or boxer thinks they deserve to make it on the list. This list is guided by five key criteria that are also used by BoxingScene and Ring Magazine when they determine their Pound for Pound list,” he explained.

Tobias listed Jeremia ‘Low Key’ Nakathila as his number one boxer, with Fillipus ‘Energy’ Nghitumbwa second, while Sakaria ‘Desert Storm’ Lukas is at number three.

He said John John Paulinus is fourth, Charles Shinima fifth, Nathanael Kakololo sixth, Immanuel ‘Imms’ Joseph seventh, Harry Simon Jr eighth, Jonas Matheus ninth and Mateus Heita 10th.

His top five prospects are Martin Mukungu, Frederick Nghutenanye, Flame Nangolo, Nestor Thomas and Fillemon Nghutenanye.

However, the ratings have been met with reservation from opposing stables, with Imms Moses of AC Boxing shooting it down, labelling Tobias as biased.

“That is Nestor for you trying to impress his sponsor by discrediting our fighters with his biased pound for pound list. It is disrespectful for Nestor to rank Fillipus Energy who never fought anybody known ahead of Desert Storm,” Moses said.

Salute Boxing Academy matchmaker Joseph ‘Smokey’ Hilongwa said he partly agrees with Tobias’ rankings.

“He almost got it right, but his prospects ratings are upside down. Fillemon should be at the top because of his rating and current record. He should be followed by Mukungu, Nangolo, Nestor and Frederick in that order,” he said.

Another boxing commentator who requested anonymity said the pound for pound list is always an interesting debate.

“I always look at it from the lens of who the boxer has fought and the time that they’ve done it. Nakathila is without any doubt number one in Namibia currently, but at number two I would have Desert Storm, followed by Shinima, Paulinus, Energy, Kakololo, Matheus Heita and finally Harry Jnr,” the source said.

Another boxing critic, PJ Amunyela, said he would have preferred boxing fans to vote for their pound for pound boxers in Namibia rather than have someone who has vested personal interest coming up with such a ranking.

“I think it’s wrong for a promoter such as Nestor Tobias of Sunshine who’s been in the game for such a long time to come up with his so-called pound for pound list which is biased and uninformed,” Amunyela vented.

Nestor said he had used this criteria to come up with his list: achievement based on titles won, their resume and quality of opponents fought and location of the fight, performance and how they won and lost fights, and activity level which means how often they fought or fight at the top level and opposition and the activity period by these boxers.

Many of the pundits interviewed by Nampa said Tobias had contradicted his criteria by naming several boxers who do not qualify for the list if it was based on his mentioned criteria.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency