Imms talks MTC sponsorship snub
Namibia’s fast rising boxing trainer-cum-promoter Imms Moses says he has no hard feelings with his promotion not benefiting from the recent N$67.8 million sponsorship from MTC to the sport, arts and fashions sectors.
Moses, who owns and runs the popular AC Boxing Promotions, has in recent times worked with some of Namibia’s top veterans and upcoming fighters such as Paulus “The Rock” Ambunda, Julius “Blue Machine” Indongo, Sakaria “Desert Storm” Lukas and youngsters such as Mathias Hamunyela and Flame Nangolo to mention but a few.
On the boxing side of the mega multiple sponsorship, MTC renewed its partnership with three boxing stables namely the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing with a sponsorship of N$8.25 million over three years, MTC Salute Boxing Academy with N$8.25 over three years and the MTC Kilimanjaro Boxing Club with N$1.5 million over three years.
Given the new impetus and innovations AC Boxing Promotions has brought to local boxing in terms of hosting and placing special emphasis on amateur boxing and also working with top international promoters, many local boxing pundits felt the promotion should have been one of the beneficiaries of the MTC sponsorship, even if its financially not at the level of Salute and Sunshine promotions. New Era Sport contacted Moses to gauge his reaction and hear what the future hold for his stable. He maintained that there is no hard feelings with him missing out on the mega MTC sponsorship, although he somehow feels they have worked hard to be considered for such sponsorship opportunities. “I really have no hard feelings my brother, if MTC decides to consider only three stables as part of their sponsorship package what can I do to change that? There’s absolutely nothing I can do. A lot of people have been asking the same questions and I have been avoiding this topic because I really don’t want to get into pity politics over MTC’s sponsorship. As AC Boxing Promotions, we will keep working, keeping bringing world class fights and keep creating big opportunities for our boxers. The future looks bright and that’s what is important for me. I think as a promotion we have really been working hard and have been working with some of the best promoters internationally. Even if you look at our standards at the gym, it all speaks for itself and how we were not considered by MTC is beyond me and not much of an issue really. I don’t want to complain too much,” said Moses.
He continue: “We have some of the top experienced fighters in our gym such as Indongo, Ambunda and Lukas and some of the country’s best youngsters such as Olympian Mathias Hamunyela and Flame Nangolo and a lot of others. We will continue bringing competition to others locally and create more opportunities for the fighters. As I said, I’m young and plenty of opportunities still lay ahead for our gym, so I don’t want to accuse MTC of anything because they chose to sponsor their preferred stables, it won’t be fair for me to do
so.”