Hill: Target Is To Develop Nasavu Boxers

The village of Nasavu in the province of Ra is top of the list for Lewis-Hill Boxing Promotions in terms of develop­ing their young men to become good boxers.

Promoter and super welter­weight boxer Winston Hill said boxing is the only sport, men from Nasavu play.

Speaking to SUNsports, Hill said they have set their sights on de­veloping boxers from the village.

“This is the village of Apisai Na­ciqa and we visited it a few weeks back,” he said.

“In his village they don’t play any other sports apart from box­ing.

“They don’t have a rugby or rugby league team. They are all boxers. In the past years some very good boxers came out of that village.”

Hill discovered that former Fi­jian golden boy (of boxing) Sa­karaia Ve and Gyan Singh set-up a boxing ring in the village and they used to have a tournament back in the 1970s.

“This is fantastic and we want to return to the village and develop these talented boxers.

“We want to allow these village boys to train with some proper equipment, proper guidance and coaching.

“We want grow boxing in that area because there are a lot of tal­ented boxers.”

Hill said he wanted to develop lo­cal boxers through the Lewis-Hill Promotion.

The promotion is a partnership between Hill and legendary Aus­tralian trainer Johnny Lewis.

Lewis trained Jeff Fenech who won world titles in three weight divisions, Kostya Tszyu who was the world’s lightweight cham­pion, Jeff Harding who was a former world light heavyweight champion along with Virgill Hill who was later inducted into the World’s Hall of Fame.

“I want to give the boxers of Nasavu a strong footing, a strong foundation when we step into the overseas arena we are fully equipped to represent Fiji and be assured of a win.

“We don’t want to go fight over­seas and get knocked out like in the past.

“The Lewis-Hill boxing promo­tions was designed and created to equip our local boxers with experience, set the platform and the atmosphere to develop their skills.

“We want to bring overseas fight­ers here to Fiji instead of our box­ers flying over.

““I’m coming in with a lot of idea to make boxing a little bit dif­ferent but still have that fire and we have a lot of talent in Fiji.”

The lanky Naciqa fights veteran Joseph Kwadjo in a 10-round light heavyweight thriller at the FMF Dome in Suva tomorrow night.

Hill who is making his profes­sional debut takes on stylish Ra­kuro Dauvavana in a six-round bout.

The official weigh in is at 10am today at Suva’s Terry Walk.

Story By:  simione.haravanua@fijisun.com.fj