Only two days to go until middleweight contender Hamid Rahimi makes history by stepping into the ring for the first professional boxing event ever in his homecountry Afghanistan. “The whole country is so excited and looking forward to the “Fight 4 Peace”. It’s simply overwhelming”, says Rahimi who is followed by hundreds of fans to each interview and public appearance he had in the last couple of days.
But one man wants to crash the party and plans to do so in style. Rahimi’s opponent Said Mbelwa arrived in Kabul this weekend and made it very clear that he hasn’t come all the way from Tanzania to lose the “Fight 4 Peace”. “I give Hamid Rahimi and his team my respect for organizing this event and for doing what they’re doing”, said Mbelwa. “I understand that this is a very spezial event for Afghanistan and a very important message for the whole world. But once this bell rings it will be a boxing fight like any other. And I can promise you that I will be victorious. I am very well prepared and I am sure that I will knock out Rahimi in the fourth round.”
When Rahimi and his coach Balu Sauer heard about Mbelwa’s “promise” they had a very simple answer. “It’s good to know that he wants to knock Hamid out in the fourth round”, said Sauer on a press conference. “This means that we have to adjust our game plan, be faster than him and knock him out in three. It’s as simple as that!”
The “Fight 4 Peace” between Rahimi and Mbelwa takes place in Kabul on Tuesday, Ocober 30th, The 12 round middleweight bout will be for the vacant WBO international championship which will be labeled as “peace championship” for this spezial occasion. The main purpose of the event is to set a sign for peace and freedom in a country which has suffered from war and terrorism for almost fourty years.
“We want to show the people that sports can be more powerful and more influential than politics”, says Rahimi. “We want to give the people hope and something else to think about than war, terror and death. It’s very important to send a message to the world that we will not give in and keep on fighting for what’s right. Together we can achieve great things if we have faith and if we all “Fight 4 Peace”.”
