I have not yet announced my retirement from boxing but I have just been quiet and busy establishing an academy, former Women International Boxing Organisation (WIBO) welterweight World Champion, Esther Phiri has said.
Phiri said her silence did not mean that she had retired from boxing and said that she would make an announcement at an appropriate time.
When asked as to whether boxing fans should soon expect seeing her back into the ring, Phiri responded saying; “No no no, I am still thinking about it but I have not yet retired because if I say I am retired, people might end up misquoting me ”.
“People would say, was she not the one who said she had retired but now she is back? So the right time will come to say ok now I have retired,” said the pugilist.
Speaking in an interview with the Sun Sports in Lusaka, Phiri said for now she wanted to be active by nurturing upcoming teenage boxers in her community.
“I am training boys and girls at my academy so people should not think that I have retired because I have not,” she said.
Phiri opened an academy called Esther’s Nest Sports Academy in June last year located in Mtendere-PHI area comprising three sports disciplines in boxing, pool and soccer.
“So far so good and my academy is doing fine despite facing a number of challenges here and there but I am doing my level best in ensuring that children from my community are kept busy through sport,” Phiri said.
She further said her academy attracted more than 20 boys and girls on a daily basis aged below 18 years and trained from NRDC grounds.
“One of the reasons why we have youth-led gangs or ‘fluffies’ as they are popularly known is because these children do not have recreation facilities,” she said.
The boxer further bemoaned lack of a community hall in the area where children could easily do their sports from and appealed for support from well-wishers.
Phiri, born June 14, 1987 is the first female Zambian boxer to become the world’s champion.
And no female boxer, who is as successful as her, has ever sprung up in Zambia apart from Catherine Phiri.
Esther has totally revolutionised female boxing in Zambia and today, many aspiring boxers looked up to her as their idol.
