‘The Bite’ to fight midweek

Once regarded as an average boxer, Gotlieb ‘The Bite’ Ndokosho has reinvented himself as a fighter of note after recording knockout wins in his last five fights. The fighter is set to return to the ring on Wednesday, December 4, when he will take on Georgia’s Kakhaber Avetisian for the IBF International featherweight title at Windhoek’s Country Club Resort and Casino. Ndokosho’s recent knockout record is especially impressive given that he only fought once in 2011 – a split decision loss to Jatoorora ‘The Sting’ Tjingaveta. That loss was preceded by another one the previous year when Ndokosho was stopped by Oscar Chauke in the first round in a fight that took place in South Africa. These losses, coupled with another one in 2008 (against Ali Phiri), means that the Namibian boxer’s record is currently at 14 wins, one draw and three losses from 18 fights. With such a record many would easily dismiss Ndokosho as one of the boxers whose career is going nowhere fast. And yet his recent history points to the contrary, as the Namibian has stopped the likes of Zimbabweans Dumezweni Ntuliki (third round) and Ronald Tamami (sixth round), Tanzanian Rajabu Maoja (first round), Egyptian Ibrahim Mostafa (third round) and Paraguayan Feliciano Dario Azuaga (fourth round) since the beginning of last year. What is also significant is that prior to these fights he had not recorded a single win by knockout, which is perhaps a sign that the boxer has stepped up a gear in his efforts to reach the dizzying heights of being a world champion. Number one It is therefore also not surprising that leading boxing website boxrec lists Ndokosho as the number one boxer in the featherweight division in the country. Since the division includes fighters such as the highly rated Sakaria ‘Desert Storm’ Lukas and the IBF youth featherweight champion, Albinus ‘Danny Boy’ Felesianu, the fact that Ndokosho has remained ahead is a credit to the boxer’s prowess. Ndokosho is set to be the main event of a card co-promoted by Kinda Promotions and Warriors Promotions; an event that will also see Joseph ‘Smokey’ Hilongwa taking to the ring. According to one of the promoters of the event, Kinda Nangolo, even though there is no sponsor for the card yet, everything has been finalised. “The fights have been sanctioned and we are ready. We don’t have a sponsor yet but the fights are definitely on,” he said yesterday. The cost of tickets for the event were not yet decided upon by the time Namibian Sun went to print.