Boxers

NAMIBIA’S NDEVELO SURVIVES BRUTAL GLASGOW STORM THAT SWEEPS EIGHT AFRICAN BOXERS ON A DARK FRIDAY

Clockwise from top left: Namibia's Tryagain Ndevelo battles Northern Ireland's Jude Gallagher, Zambian bantamweight Catherine Mwape during her semi-final flyweight bout, Lesotho's Rapelang Maselela is in cloud nine, Namibia's Mischa Araes in action against England's Ruby White, Ghana's bantamweight Amadu Mohammed appears disgusted by the decision to award the fight to Australia's Jye Dixon, Zambia's Emmanuel Katema planning an assault on England's Patris Mughalzai

▪️Ndevelo, the last African boxer in action, gritted his teeth to score an upset victory over fancied Commonwealth Games champion Jude Gallagher to cruise to the finals to meet India’s Sachin Sachin

▪️Africa’s Glasgow eight bronze medallists are Zambia’s Catherine Mwape, Lesotho’s Pooana Khoahli, Zambia’s Emmanuel Katema,Lesotho’s Rapelang Maselela, Ghana’s Amadu Mohammed,Namibia’s Philip Haoseb, Mauritius’ Merven Clair and Namibia’s Mischa Araes

▪️Namibia’s coach, Lungameni Ipundaka, speaks out on dubious officiating in Glasgow and calls on African countries to plan staging a global sports event

August 1, 2026

A devastating boxing tornado ripped through the Commonwealth Games semi-finals on Friday, July 31, 2026, obliterating Africa’s gold medal hopes and leaving shattered dreams scattered across the ring in Glasgow.

In a dark, stormy session, consecutive semi-final losses acted as furious gusts of wind, blowing away Africa’s podium contenders one by one. Among the casualties of this “Dark Friday” was Ghana’s African Games bantamweight champion Amadu Mohammed and Mauritius’ most experienced African boxer in Glasgow, Merven Clair, beaten comprehensively 5-0 by Orlando Holley-Sotomi of Wales while Amadu lost 4-1 to Jye Dixon of Australia.

“Poor strategy cost the Ghanaian victory, noted our analyst, and went on: In the first round he won 5-0 then took his foot off the pedal losing the last two rounds 4-1 and 5-0 for a 4-1 split defeat. He failed to take advantage of his long reach and allowed the Aussie to walk in with flurries and step out with ease.Has himself to blame.”

Yet, amid the ruin and broken spirits, one man – Namibia’s lightweight Tryagain Ndevelo – managed to secure a dramatic victory, standing as the sole survivor to punch his way into the grand finals. While his teammates pick up the pieces of what could have been, he carries the weight and solitary hope of an entire continent into the ultimate battle for gold.

A featherweight gold medallist at the 2024 African Elite Champio ships, Ndevelo’s close 3-2 stunning points win over fancied Northern Ireland’s Commonwealth Games champion, Jude Gallagher, was the perfect tonic that brought back smiles on the faces of the eight African boxers swept by the storm.

An excited Ndevelo could not have summed it better in an interview with boxersworld.co.ke:

“I had said before and I’m repeating I’m here for the gold medal, I’ll do my best it’s every man for himself God for us all I’m grateful and happy to make it to the last fight of the tournament. It’s back to back now to the finish of my international tournaments. I went through a narrow path at African Championship to finish top. What if this is another power of the Almighty manifesting again. I give it all in his hands to guide and lead me to victory again.

Ndevelo recalls he had to use all the tricks in the book in the third round in which Gallagher went at him hammer and tongs.

“I had to survive to protect my first 2 rounds of dominance in the last round. Definitely, he had nothing to lose but to give his all and chase the score. All the opponents were good enough. What differs is just the styles of play. Like I said from the beginning that I had been here before, and it was never a walk in the park. Gallagher was strong and aggressive, on top of that, the defending champion. That’s more of what I should expect from him. Well done to him until we meet again in other competitions.”:

Our ring analyst watched all the semi-final action and shared his views on Ndevelo’s bout.

“Ndevelo put up a clever fight. He never tried to mix it up with the Irish boy. He established his range well and maintained the distance using sharp and precise straight punches to secure victory,” said the knowledgeable boxing analyst.

The sole African warrior now takes on India’s Sachin Sachin in today’s lightweight finals, August 1, 2026. Known as ⁠Sachin Siwach, he is an elite men’s 60kg division competitor from Miththal village, Bhiwani, Haryana. He is a former Youth World Champion and Commonwealth Youth Games gold medalist. He advanced through the preliminary rounds by defeating Canada’s Keoma Al-Ahmadieh 4-1 and England’s William Hewitt 4-1, then secured a 5-0 unanimous decision over Botswana’s Treasure Moremi in the quarter-finals.

Ndevelo first defeated Trinidad and Tobago’s Joseph Anthony in the round of 32, saw off Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Jayantha in pre-quarters and in the quarter-finals eliminated Niall Adams from Guernsey, a small island nation near the coast of France.

Africa’s Glasgow eight bronze medallists are Zambia’s Catherine Mwape, Lesotho’s Pooana Khoahli, Zambia’s Emmanuel Katema, Lesotho’s Rapelang Maselela, Ghana’s Amadu Mohammed, Namibia’s Philip Haoseb, Mauritius’ Merven Clair and Namibia’s Mischa Araes.

Meanwhile, Namibia’s coach Lungameni Ipundaka spoke to boxersworld.co.ke on various issues regarding boxing in Glasgow. He started by commenting on the strategy they used to beat Gallagher

We stayed true to our own boxing style. Our strategy was to box smart, accumulate points in the first two rounds, and then use the final round to showcase our boxer’s ability and confidence. We had also studied Gallagher’s boxing style before the bout, which helped us prepare tactically.

Was it 3-2 really in your opinion?

No, in our opinion we expected a better outcome based on how the fight unfolded. We believed our boxer had one enough to earn a unanimous decision.

Officiating has not been okay. Is Namibia a victim too?

Yes we feel our bantamweight boxer Philip Haoseb should have won against the Indian Rajumani. He is an exceptional talent who displayed outstanding boxing skills throughout the tournament. His semifinal against the Indian boxer, who is also a very good athlete was one of the best fights of the day. It was a highly competitive contest, and we believe Philip did enough to deserve greater recognition from the judges. As for the other bouts, I cannot comment because I was not directly involved.

Africa had 32 boxers in the quarters, then reduced to nine in semis and only one in the finals. Does this mean Africa is doing that badly in boxing?

Africa has tremendous boxing talent. I had hoped to see more African nations progress to the finals because the quality is certainly there. Going forward, I believe it would benefit the sport if African countries were allocated more qualification opportunities for major international competitions.

Don’t you think it’s time Africa hosted such competitions like the Commonwealth Games and invite the rest of the world?

Absolutely. This is something we have discussed. Hosting major international boxing events in Africa would be a great opportunity to showcase the continent, its people, and its sporting talent. Africa has the capacity and capability to successfully host world-class competitions instead of we always going to boxing competitions hosted by other countries. We have the resources.

Talk about this quota system

I believe it would be beneficial to have a more balanced and equitable quota system. Africa has many highly competitive boxers who have the ability to perform and succeed on the world stage, and increased representation would create more opportunities for that talent to be showcased.