17 Mar 2024

Botswana’s youthful pugilist, Mmoloki Sekwaipe has proceeded to the quarter finals after a win against Wisdom Barnor of Sierra Leone in the 57kg featherweight category at the 13^th African Games on March 15.

Sekwaipe, who was making his first appearance at international stage, won the preliminaries after the referee stopped the contest in round two of the bout.

He made his debut at an international competition after graduating from the youth and joined the elite team in January.

During the boxers’ parade, Barnor received the loudest cheers from the spectators and that was clear indication that he was the favourite to win the bout.

Sekwaipe had to ignore the noise and focus on the task before him and he beat the odds and fought his way to victory before a handful Batswana spectators at the 4 000-seater Bukom Boxing Arena.

Ostensibly, Barnor was born in Ghana and had recently changed citizenship to represent Sierra Leone.

In the first round, Sekwaipe was watchful and defended well to deny his opponent any chance to score points.

Round two saw Sekwaipe enter the ring with so much determination, having calculated his opponent’s moves in the previous round.

He unleashed a combination of jabs, uppercuts, hooks and straight punches, which saw him accumulate points against Barnor.

Most of the time, Barnor was found wanting and that resulted in him getting injured, which forced the referee to stop the match.

In an interview, Sekwaipe said he was happy that he managed to win the bout contrary to all expectations, given that he was fighting against both Barnor and the spectators.

“In round one, I panicked and that is why he was catching me. I was not used to the crowd and it was the first time to compete outdoor. That for me was a new experience,” he said.

He said he was able to dominate the second round after realising that Barnor was playing foul trying to put off his game plan.

“That made me pick his weakest side and I managed to attack him from all angles and win. This was also history for me and March 15 will forever be etched in my heart,” he said.

National team coach, Thebe Setlalekgosi said Sekwaipe was introduced to the senior team in January this year owing to his aptitude and potential.

“We had to drop some senior boxers after realising that the boxer has a bright future,” he said.

On one hand, Setlalekgosi said he was happy that Sekwaipe did not give in to the pressure from spectators’ loudest cheers for his opponent.

“That should have given him some stage fright but he was not worried but stayed confident and he won the bout against all odds,” he said.

He added that they had an advantage because Botswana boxers matured early from grassroots development. ENDS