LOVEMORE “Black Panther” NDOU
Lovemore is currently the PABA Super Lightweight Champion. He had been ranked as high as WBC #2, but didn’t fight from February, 2001, to April, 2002, and was dropped from the ratings.

Lovemore says, “I believe that Dan Goossen can get me a world title shot, if you look at what he has been doing with other fighters like Steve Forbes and David Santos.”

Key Fights – on 5-17-02 in Honolulu, HI, he knocked out local favorite Jun Gorres (25-2-1): Lovemore knocked Gorres down in the 2nd round, and the referee stopped the fight at 2:53; looking back, Lovemore said, “The crowd was all crazy for Gorres and I think he was convinced I would be easy, but I was very focused. This was a great fight for me. I knocked Gorres clean cold right at the end of the second round. I took him completely by surprise. I switched from orthodox to southpaw stance which really confused him and then seven seconds before the end of the round I got him with a left hook he never saw. I hit him right in the kisser. He got up again, I believe it was on the seven count, but he had no legs. I am very happy with this victory.”…

On 4-7-02 in San Jacinto, CA, he lost a 10 round majority decision against Jose Luis Juarez (13-4-1): Lovemore was favored to win, and it was an exciting fight that earned a standing ovation from the crowd; Juarez started fast and scored a knockdown in the 3rd round, but Lovemore rallied in the middle rounds; Juarez came on strong in the late rounds – he rocked Lovemore in the 8th round, scored another knockdown in the 9th, and staggered Lovemore in the 10th; scored 97-911, 96-92, 94-94…

2001 – on 2-25-01 in Southport, AUST, he TKO’d former South American champion Carlos Uribe (40-6-2): Lovemore dominated the fight, scored a knockdown, and stopped Uribe in the 5th round…

2000 – on 10-6-00 in Tweed Heads, AUST, he won a 10 round decision against former South American champion Victor Paz (68-22-3): Lovemore pressed forward throughout the fight and Paz fought very defensively; scored 100-90, 99-92, 98-95…

On 8-25-00 in Wollongong, AUST, he TKO’d Juan Macias (25-10-1) in the 1st round…

On 6-30-00 in Tweed Heads he lost a 10 round unanimous decision against former WBC International champion Guillermo Mosquera (35-4): Mosquera frustrated Lovemore with constant movement and consistently outworked him; scored 98-93, 98-94, 97-93; after the fight, Lovemore said, “I am not making excuses, but I have recently suffered from glandular fever and have not fully recovered. I will be back.”…

On 3-17-00 in Sydney, AUST, he TKO’d former two-time world title challenger Renato Cornett (30-3-1): Cornett started fast and outworked Lovemore in the early rounds, but Lovemore steadily wore him down; he cut Cornett over the right eye in the 2nd round, scored a knockdown with a body punch in the 6th, and cut him over the left eye and bloodied his mouth in the 7th; Lovemore rocked Cornett several times in the 8th and staggered him early in the 9th; the referee stopped the fight at 0:19 of the 9th round…

1999 – on 10-22-99 in Tweed Heads he won a 10 round decision against former South American champion Gustavo Cuello (21-9-1)…

AMATEUR, PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Lovemore said, “I started boxing at the age of 16. I have always being into sports as a kid growing up in South Africa. I was very good at soccer, which is a very common sport among blacks in South Africa. Even today, black kids can still be seen in every corner of the streets in townships playing soccer with no proper soccer balls. They’re often made out of shoving newspapers into plastic carry-bags. Growing up in a country torn asunder by hate and racial conflict, sport was the only way for us blacks to be treated with respect and the only way we can make our ways out of the black townships with no future.

“I was a very temperamental young man. So everytime a rival played dirty with me, I would lose my cool and kick them in the face or flatten them with a punch. That always left me suspended from playing for periods up to three months. But because I was one of the top players in the small town of Messina where I grew up, they would always have me back in the field before my suspension was up. Then I would deck someone again and it was back to square one.

“Once I decked this guy and knocked him out cold, and the local security was called in to discipline me. The security dude, Divas Chirwa, who later became my best amateur trainer and friend, happened to be a boxing trainer in the local copper mine. Instead of punishing me, he asked me to come try boxing in his gym the next day. The next day I went to the gym, cocky as usual, and there was about 30 new recruits like me. Divas had his own way of recruiting potential fighters. He would train you on the first day like you never been trained before. Hard training that would leave a grown man crying or quitting within the first 15 minutes. He trained us for about two hours, and by the end of the training session there was only about seven of us left. The next day when I went back to the gym, I was the only one who showed up. My body was aching like hell. Divas was impressed, and he then started training me properly and teaching me the basics. And that was the beginning of my boxing career. Then I went on to represent my school, the local copper mine and army where my father worked as a mechanic.”…

Lovemore reportedly had 68 amateur fights (66-2)…he was a four-time South African champion in four consecutive years…He said, “I could not compete internationally since South Africa then was banned from international competition due to its practice of Apartheid. As a result, South African amateur fighters could not compete in the Olympics.”…

Lovemore moved to Australia in 1996 to pursue his boxing career…he is married and has three daughters…