Middleweight contenders Walter Kautondokwa and Billi Facundo Godoy both approved today’s weigh-in leading up to their WBO Africa title fight scheduled to happen on Tuesday night on a special boxing event in Windhoek, Namibia.
The 33-year-old Kautondokwa (16-0, 15 KO), who weighed in at 157.1 pounds, is planning to defend his belt for the fifth time. The hard-hitting Namibian is currently ranked No. 3 by the WBO at 160 pounds, and he is looking forward to a future world title fight, possibly against Billy Joe Saunders.
The 31-year-old Godoy (36-4, 17 KO), who approved the ceremony with 159.3 pounds, looks to secure his first major win outside of his native Argentina. His biggest victories came against former WBC welterweight champion Carlos Manuel Baldomir and once challenger Jorge Sebastian Heiland.
Kautondokwa holds an advantage in size, physical as well as punching power over his Argentinian foe. Godoy, however, has an over six-year edge in pro experience going into this 12-round battle.
In the co-featured bout of the event, WBO No. 5 rated super featherweight Jeremiah Nakathila weighed 129.1 pounds before his WBO Africa title bout against Ghanaian Patrick Okine (19-3-1, 16 KO), who stepped off the scale with the same 129.1 pounds.
The Namibian Nakathila (14-1, 10 KO) is scheduled to make the second defense of his title while he is also a candidate to get a shot at the soon-to-be-vacant WBO belt at 130 pounds, once Vasyl Lomachenko makes his expected move to lightweight in a bout with Jorge Linares in May.
The third WBO Africa title bout of the evening will be staged at welterweight between Mikka Shonena and Said Yazidu (36-13-1, 21 KO), who approved the weight limit with 146.6 and 144.2 pounds, respectively. Shonena (11-0, 1 KO) is ranked No. 14 with the WBO at 147 pounds.
The start of the weigh-in ceremony, that was originally planned to kick-off at 11 am on Monday, had to be rescheduled two times. First, a heavy rainfall stalled the event, that was scheduled to be open to the public in the center of Windhoek. It was later moved to the conference room of the Windhoek Country Club, where the scale got broken that further delayed the process.
At last, all 28 boxers got scaled and went through the physical test that gave a green light for tomorrow’s show.
The card will take place at the Ramatex Hall in Windhoek, where thousands of passionate Namibian fight fans are anticipated to attend, thanks to the national celebration days organized around the Independence Day of the African country.
The event, that is billed “Legacy Fight” and is expected to bring in three Namibian presidents, is promoted by leading African promoter, Nestor Tobias’ MTC Sunshine Productions and will be televised live by Namibian TV. Doors will open at 1 pm while the main event of the giant show will start at 11 pm.
