Proud “Kilimanjaro” Chinembiri

PROUD CHINEMBIRI- “KILIMANJARO”

A very big man who brought intimidation to his contenders, just by a single glance at him. Proud Chinembiri, aka Kilimanjaro was a Zimbabwean heavy weight boxing champion who raised Zimbabwe’s flag in that industry. Born in 1958 and died in 1994 and was professionally known as Proud Kilimanjaro who was a boxing champion between 1982 and 1990 when he retired. Kilimanjaro was also the African Boxing Union Champion between 1988 and 1990. His physical stature was as amazing as his fighting abilities_ 6 feet and 6 inches tall_ as he was nicknamed ‘man mountain’. At his first fight, his fists could not fit into ordinary boxing gloves but fortunately enough, bigger gloves were found and the match proceeded. It is also said that in three consecutive matches, potential opponents withdrew after looking at his physical stature.

Kilimanjaro once played football professionally as a goalkeeper for four years before taking up boxing. He made his professional debut in October 1981 with a fourth-round stoppage of Black Tiger and this was after he was taken by training manager Dave Wellings. He won the Zimbabwe heavy weight title in April 1982 in his fifth fight with a knockout of Walter Ringo Starr, a round which only took 15minutes. In another match with Adama Mensah at the Rufaro Stadium (Harare) with a recorded crowd of 15 000, he won in the sixth round to take the African Union heavyweight title and he became a top 10 WBC world ranking. Kilimanjaro remained undefeated during the first 4years as he defended his title from opponents like Joe Kalala, Ngozika Ekwelum, Kid Power and Captain Cleopas Marvel with a successful defense of his title against Jukebox Timebomb as well. In a Commonwealth title eliminator, Kilimanjaro faced Hughroy Currie in November 1985 who won with one point only to eventually claim the title with a fight against Horace Notice in Dudley in March 1987. He made another successful defense of his African title against Mary Konate before he lost it from Michael Simuwelu in 1987. Resilient to keep his title, he won it back a year later with an eleventh-round knockout of Simuwelu with the help of his trainer Gabriel Moyo. In December 1988, Kilimanjaro successfully defended his national title stopping Black Tiger in six rounds and in two other fights with Bombaphani Bonyongo Destroyer in July 1989 then also with Sam Sithole in February 1980. Kilimanjaro was expected to face Lennox Lewis in a Commonwealth eliminator title in London which was to be held in February 1990 but was barred from attending since he refused to disclose his HIV status to the British Boxing Board of Control and was stripped of his title.

Retired with a record of 32 wins and 6 defeats, the ‘man mountain’ died from a long illness believed to be AIDS-related in his Buhera village on February 15 1994 at the age of 36. Kilimanjaro’s undeniable championship in the history of boxing lives on as many young people still draw inspiration from him with an example of Arigoma Chiponda who has his worn out poster hanged on the walls of his St Mary’s gym in Chitungwiza. More inspiration was, and still is, drawn from the fact that Proud Kilimanjaro Chinembiri rose from the Mbare slums to be right on top of the echelons of international boxing. Individuals like Charles Mabika (who was a ring announcer then) and Phillip Chiyangwa (who was a boxing promoter then) had a chance to witness closely the success of Kilimanjaro. The 9^th ranking in WBC which was attained by Chinembiri is a leap yet to be emulated in Zimbabwean boxing. Since his death, Zimbabwe has not yet had such success in the international boxing world. He remains an icon of Zimbabwe’s golden age of boxing and many believed that he could have achieved much more than what he achieved and he had a dream of fighting Mike Tyson at some point in time unfortunately did not live to see the day. Until now, Zimbabwe still hopes to discover talented boxing stars like Kilimanjaro as the boxing sport continues. These efforts include those being done to prepare for the National Youth Games in Gweru with a particular focus on greater avenues in the boxing world.