NAMIBIAN STAR BOXER DOING ROARING BUSINESS AT HIS PUB

It’s a Friday as patrons sample an assortment of drinks, others watching TV cracking jokes faces radiant with joy. A bartender is moving round to make sure the revellers have enough stock.

Drinks are flowing fast with Windhoek draught beer the choice of most of them. As the music gets louder, some decide to shake a leg to unwind after a busy week in their respective places of work.

The stomach is also a big beneficiary of this now packed pub with roasted and boiled goat meat whetting their appetite. One or two innocent goats must have lost their lives it seems.

Welcome to Low-Key Pub owned by Namibia’s celebrated professional boxer Jeremiah Nakathila. Low-Key is Nakathila’s nickname in the ring.

Nakathila, who is a Warrant Officer in Namibia’s Police Force, has been running the business for the last five years years in the capital city Windhoek, Hakahana location.

“I bought a house beginning of 2019 then I converted it into a pub,” says Nakathila who returns to the ring in June or July this year in the USA.

“It’s a very productive business because I have a lot of fans at home, they always turn up to support my business. It’s one of the best decisions I made.

“At Low-Key pub, I also have a restaurant, my customers drink and eat at the same place. I normally slaughter two goats especially at the end of the month when the customer flow is good. We roast and boil meat, Namibians like goat meat very much and prefer to eat it just like that.

“We also prepare pap or ugali as they call it in Kenya, some of my customers are from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. They enjoy it a lot as they don’t like drinking on an empty stomach. We sell different type of drinks. However, Windhoek draught beer is the favourite drink for most of my patrons,” says the boxer.

“Our music is the best in town from kwaito, afro pop, reggae, rhumba and many more. We make sure we play what the customers want. I work with different DJs but the key ones are DJ Kassie and DJ Paul. I’ve worked with them for four years now. I have five employees thee males and two females. One of the males is strictly a driver. We also have a take away shop where we sell a variety of food every day,” Nakathila reveals.

“I have invested big amount of money in my pub which in return earns me a reasonable monthly amount. In addition to it, I have a lot of other businesses that serve the police,” adds the international boxer.

Through his ring earnings, Nakathila bought three houses in Windhoek. One is where he’s operating his pub, he rents another house and the big one is where he lives with his family. He has a beautiful wife called Penny and they have two children, eight-year-old boy Mateus Lipinge and six-year-old daughter Isabel. “My wife rarely comes to the pub unless there’s a music show to assist me,” he reveals.

Nakathila is also a proud owner of a football club at his Low-Key Pub. “I was once a footballer, and played as a defender because that’s the only sport that existed where I grew up,” he recalls.

“I have an annual tournament known as Jeremiah Nakathila tournament featuring football, volleyball, boxing and tug of war every December,” he says.

Nakathila has indeed made hay while the sun shines as he also has a Day Care Centre for children near Low-Key. Moreover, he used to sell cars some time back.

The professional boxer also markets and advertises for Namibia’s giant telecommunication company, MTC Spectra. “I’m their Ambassador, they pay me good money, I can’t complain.”

“How much do they pay?” I ask putting him in a tight corner but he ducks my punch smartly. “Well, that’s now a deal between me and the telecommunication company,” he responds with a chuckle.

“I have been a WBO Africa lightweight champion since 2016, and in 2019 I became a WBO global champion. So I saved the little I was getting through the fights. However, the USA bouts brought me more money, my payment in one fight combined all the past fights at home,” he discloses

The biggest paycheck he’s gotten in pro boxing was in 2021, in his fight with renowned American, Shakur Stevenson in Las Vegas. Shakur decisioned Nakathila to win the vacant WBO interim junior lightweight title.

The following year at Resorts World in Las Vegas, Nakathila scored an upset sixth-round TKO win over former Mexican world super-featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt. All fights were made possible by his well-connected promoter Nestor Tobias.

“Nestor has played a key role in my pro boxing,” says Nakathila, adding: “I cannot thank him enough, he gave me a better life through his connections with Top Rank arranging big fights for me and good money he’s a great man the top promoter in Africa I can say.”