SOUTH AFRICA-BASED Zimbabwe heavy-weight boxer Elvis ‘Bulawayo Bomber’ Moyo has been hit hard by the effects of COVID-19 pandemic as well as the death of his sponsor and employer so much so that he is contemplating hanging up his gloves.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Speaking to NewsDay Sports from South Africa yesterday, Moyo said besides the deadly virus that has affected all facets of the economy the world over, his sponsor, businessman Damian Michael succumbed to cancer three weeks ago.
The pugilist said he has been training to keep fit but his career has been seriously affected by the pandemic and the death of his sponsor, who was also his boss in the security industry.
“To put the huge nail on the coffin, my chief sponsor (Michael) who was my boss passed away three weeks ago. All is just a disaster. I just have to restart, reset and reboot,” Dube said. “I have no clue where I am going and what is going to happen. But I can still fall back into a dream and start training and managing boys. I have got some connections and I might as well start doing that. Michael was the spine to my career, he helped me through from 2009 up to the time he passed on. I started working with him then and he sponsored and promoted a couple of my fights in 2012 and 2013 under Showpony Promotions. Later he became my full-time boss after opening ALTITUDE Champagne Garden, The Ivy Champagne Garden and recently before he fell ill, ALTITUDE Beach in Fourways Mall. I ran all his security personally and work related…We were family,” Moyo said.
Moyo said he heard of some strict conditions on acquiring visas to travel to Europe which included being vaccinated for COVID-19 and he is not willing to undergo that.
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“Looking at the pandemic, we don’t know where it is going but I have been hearing rumours and I don’t know how far true that there is a possibility that visa applications for Europe will include the coronavirus vaccine and I am not keen to take that. If that is part of the deal, I doubt if I will be travelling. My aim was to go and fight mostly abroad towards the end of my career but that has put a damper in my fighting career,” he said.
Moyo said there is a fight being organised for him in Nigeria at the end of next month against a yet to be named European boxer and if all goes well he will be accepting it.
“But all this (the coronavirus) and my boss’ death has basically affected my jobs in the security industry in the clubs and restaurants which will not be opening anytime soon and my boxing career.
Crowds are involved and that is not going to be opening anytime soon, so I am a little bit stuck. It’s a disaster in all angles.
The training I’m doing is just 10% of what I should be doing. It’s just beneficial because I’m keeping in shape. It’s not enough, not the kind I would do when preparing for a fight,” Moyo said.
Moyo said he is staying at home, observing regulations to do with the fight against COVID-19 and training six days a week.