SportPesa plays a crucial role in turning boxing a money-making business

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If Tanzania was a plane flying high then boxing is a Bermuda triangle, a terrifying no-go area. Our societies shaped us to see boxing a game of lowlifes and gangs, with its unmerciful nature of ending life in split seconds, distancing from it would make you a hero but engaging in it was called self-defense.

The narrative above, among other factors, denigrated boxing from up-top to the very bottom. For Zanzibar, stakes were so high to the point of liDing ban on the game until President Mwinyiʼs latest decision to scrape up the ban and reinstate boxing activity in the isles.

Despite the tough goings, Tanzania still blessed us with great names in the boxing world, the likes of Rashid Matumla, Maneno Oswald, Japhet Kaseba, Thomas Mashari and Francis Cheka for the last decade, who on different occasions, rewrote our boxing story from the moment they stepped in the ring.

The Matumla Vs Cheka fight would not only steal the countryʼs spotlight but bring around non-boxing fans to the thrills and chants.

Matumla and his co paid the piper but the tune is called by the new era boxers including Twaha Kiduku, Dulla Mbabe, Selemani Kidunda, Hassan Mwakinyo, Mfaume Mfaume, Ibrah Class and so on. These new champs toast to the raD of changes that happened in boxing a couple of years ago as now only a single bout can make them live lavishly, contrary to the past.

SportPesa, an online global leading betting firm, saw the boxing hassles on the faces of our fighters, and in 2017, decided to sponsor one of our iconic boxers, Hassan Mwakinyo (Champez) who has been a force to reckon with, from then when started to grace professional boxing stages to date. His marvelous boxing records, including a win against Englishʼs Sam Eggington, greatly influenced SportPesaʼs entry into the business.

Representing other big profiles in the game, Mwakinyo has continued to raise standards and is one of the best boxers across East and Central Africa.

Since SportPesaʼs intervention in boxing, fresher investment opportunities have been unlocked and channeled to the industry from other companies. Boxing matches are now televised under the lucrative offers from the reputed broadcasters and major deals are closed by boxers with promoting firms, and not to mention those who sponsor their kits.

As a country, we have not done enough in improving boxing as these boxers we gloat ourselves over are lacking standard rings to fight on, have limited sponsorships and qualified judges. In addition, boxing training institutes are nowhere to be found plus dissatisfactory monitoring of boxing rules and regulations and counting.

Source: thecitizen.co.tz