Chilemba ranked top African boxer: Malawi ‘Golden Boy’
Malawi’s boxing icon Isaac ‘Golden Boy’ Chilemba has placed himself among the elite in his WBC lightweight category after being ranked the highest in Africa and 12th in the world, according to latest rankings released by the body for the month of April.
Chilemba’s opponent in the World Boxing Championship (WBC) light heavyweight eliminator match on May 25, Briton Tony Bellew, is just below Chilemba on position 13.
The two boxers settled for a draw in their first bout on march 28 ar Echo Area in Liverpool although the Malawian was considered to have been robbed of victory.
They are set to fight for a rematch on May 25 at o2 Arena in London on the undercard of Carl Froch’s world title unification with Mikkel Kessler to get the automatic rights of challenging champion Chad Dawson for a title bout.
Dougou Ngumbu, the other boxer in the top 15 rankings, who once fought Chilemba, is ranked higher than the Malawian on sixth position in the world.
The Malawian based in South Africa beat Ngumbu to win the IBO World Super middle title in 2009.
His trainer Andson, who is also based in South Africa applauded Chilemba for being the highest boxer in Africa in the category.
“This is good news because it shows that he is really good,” Kazembe said.
“It is also boost ahead of his fight against Bellew on May 25.”
Chilemba is currently in US training for the bout.
Great Britain’s Nathan Cleverly is the champion of the category with German boxer Robin Krasniqi is contender number his compatriots Juergen Braehmer on two and Dustin Dirks contender number three.
Champion | : Nathan Cleverly | GB |
1 | Robin Krasniqi | GER |
2 | Juergen Braehmer (International) | GER |
3 | Dustin Dirks | GER |
4 | Andrzej Fonfara | POL |
5 | Cornelius White | USA |
6 | Doudou Ngumbu (Int-Cont) | FRA |
7 | Sergey Kovalev | RUS |
8 | Travoris Cloud | USA |
9 | Eleider Alvarez (NABO) | COL |
10 | Karo Murat | GER |
11 | Vyacheslav Uzelkov | UKR |
12 | Isaac Chilemba | MAL |
13 | Tony Bellew | GB |
14 | Daniel MacKinnon (Oriental) | NZ |
15 | Umberto Savigne (Latino) | CUB |