Nakimuli: Congo assignment keeps me focused

After bagging a bronze medal at the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, it wouldn’t hurt if Teddy Nakimuli took a breather and celebrate her historic achievement.

But the light flyweight boxer with bigger ambitions resumed training at her University of Pain Club the very weekend she returned from Birmingham.

Nakimuli is among the elite boxers invited as “special guests” by the African Boxing Confederation for the International Boxing Day celebrations this weekend in Kinshasa, DR Congo.

“The Congo trip has helped me to stay focused and busy, you never know, without it I would have relaxed. But now I feel the pressure of finishing this assignment,” Nakimuli, the only Ugandan boxer who got a medal at Birmingham, told Daily Monitor. “I must be ready for such opportunities because they make an impact on my life and career.”

She will fight at the event that will bring together boxers of all ages, sex and calibre, before participating in the prize money distribution ceremony. International Boxing Association president Umar Kremlev will also be present.

“The coaches are a little harder on me in training,” she added. “They want me to be better in Congo. My fans are planning a big party for me but the coaches decided that we suspend the festivities until I return the Congo assignment.”

In Birmingham, Nakimuli walked over to the semi-finals, after her opponent failed to make weight, but lost to Carly McNaul of Northern Ireland and settled for bronze.

“My coach [Sero Addes] told me I started slow; and I can’t disagree because he knows me better than I know myself.”

Last year’s celebrations were held in Belgrade, Serbia, and included an open workout featuring world champion Roy Jones Jr of the USA and German national featherweight champion Zeina Nassar.

On which opponent she expects to face, Nakimuli has no biases. “Anyone that comes my way,” she said.