Manyuchi’s remarkable birthday rituals

THERE is always something special about Charles Manyuchi’s birthdays.

He signed his first foreign professional boxing contract with Oriental Quarries Boxing Promotions of Zambia on his 23rd birthday, on November 19, 2012.

A few weeks later, he embarked on a 495-kilometre journey to Lusaka to commence his first stint with Zambia’s famed boxing promoters.

It was a journey that would catapult him to stardom and, later on, riches.

Manyuchi had virtually nothing when he travelled to Lusaka in December 2012.

He had no decent bag to pack his few belongings and had to borrow one from a friend by the name of Martin Beula, who worked at Mr. T35, a company that would later become Manyuchi’s anchor sponsor.

He also borrowed a pair of shoes from another friend, while the blue boxing gloves that he took with him to Lusaka were sourced from Ali “Otto” Phiri, a popular local boxing personality.

All those memories flooded Manyuchi’s mind when he celebrated his 34th birthday in Chivhu last Sunday.

A few hours after knocking out Alick Gogoda of Malawi, Manyuchi’s promoter Prosper Chibaya threw a surprise birthday party for the iconic Zimbabwean boxing star at the same venue.

Manyuchi was left stunned when he walked into a well-decorated room that was full of his relatives and friends, including his mother.

His promoter proposed to play the gospel song “Areka” by Mathias Mhere to welcome Manyuchi into the room.

He thought the song befitted the occasion, as “Areka” has been Manyuchi’s ring walk tune for years now. But Manyuchi flatly refused.

“I guess it’s better if you play another song because this one (“Areka”) brings back floods of memories, some of which are bad.

“It’s a song that reminded me of the painful journey that I travelled to be where I am today,” Manyuchi explained.

It was a painful journey that saw Manyuchi stay in different locations because his father, Ottis, was a soldier, who would occasionally change barracks.

Manyuchi stayed in Bulawayo and Mudzi, before relocating to Triangle, where he worked as a sugarcane cutter and also engaged in local non-professional boxing bouts in his spare time.

He had already made a name for himself at the National Youths Games by the time he moved to Triangle.

He was then discovered by Edison Zvobgo Jr, who immediately fell in love with his boxing skills.

Manyuchi was taken to Masvingo, where he stayed at one of Zvobgo’s hotels, before he turned professional at Raylton Sports Club in Harare on February 14, 2009.

“I think that was one of the major turning points for Charles’ career.

“I always knew he was talented because I trained him when he was still a young boy, but when he turned pro, I felt he was now onto something big,” Manyuchi’s father, himself a former pugilist, told The Sunday Mail Sport.

Manyuchi went on to win the African Boxing Union, World Boxing Council international and World Boxing Council silver titles in a career that took him to various boxing venues across the globe.

He lost the WBC silver welterweight title to Kudratillo Abdukakhorov of Uzbekistan in Singapore in 2017, but Manyuchi recovered and clinched the World Boxing Federation middleweight title, which he still holds.

Manyuchi, who also holds the Global Boxing Union belt, will relinquish the titles when he finally hangs up his gloves in the not-toodistant future.

Manyuchi has already announced his plans to retire from the sport, and is now holding a series of farewell bouts.