One of Namibia’s top amateur boxers, Jonas Junias Jonas, will likely turn professional after this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
He plans to sign off his marvelous amateur career by hopefully winning gold at this international multi-sport event.
The Swakopmund-born 28-year-old pugilist, who won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia and silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland, had previously announced his plans to part ways with amateur boxing to become a fully-fledged professional.
But those plans are yet to reach fruition and his long-time trainer Albertus Tsamaseb explained to New Era Sport that plans for Jonas to turn professional are still well intact, and that could finally possibly happen after this year’s Commonwealth Games in England.
Jonas will be one of 32 athletes that will represent the country at this year’s Commonwealth Games, which will run from 28 July to 8 August.
“We had plans for him to turn professional after the Tokyo Olympic Games, as we had two trainers from overseas; one from UK and another one from US, who were all interested in taking him under their stables but due to the Covid-19 complications, things didn’t go according to plan. We are now looking forward to the upcoming Commonwealth Games and thereafter, he will definitely turn professional and continue to do what he loves the most,” explained Tsamaseb.
Jonas, who competes in the lightweight division, represented Namibia at both the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He is yet to win an Olympic medal.
But Tsamaseb said their immediate focus now is for Jonas to do well in Birmingham by winning a medal, and thereafter turn his attention to becoming a professional fighter in a bid to further conquer the international boxing stage.
“Preparations have gone well; he has been training with a bunch of great sparring partners who are helping him prepare well for the competition. In fact, we began with our preparations already last year and I’m confident that we are now ready. Jonas is targeting to bring home a gold medal and that’s our goal as a team,” he said.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games set for Birmingham will mark the third time for England to host the Friendly Games after London in 1934 and Manchester in 2002, and the seventh games in the United Kingdom after London and Manchester, Cardiff in 1958, Edinburgh in 1970 and 1986, and Glasgow in 2014.
–neweralive.na
