A LATE addition to the colossal Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol bill, you could be forgiven for questioning the thought of a correlation between Angolan-born Swede Constantino Nanga, 12-0 (8 KOs), and the 2005 movie Green Street Hooligans. However, the undefeated light-heavyweight prospect is keen to put his newfound position on the big stage to good use and announce himself to fans in the United Kingdom, and to one demographic specifically.
Hailing from Angola’s capital city of Luanda, Nanga relocated to Sweden at a young age and soon found himself adopting the European culture, falling in love with the good, bad and ugly sides of the beautiful game of football.
Speaking exclusively with Boxing News, Nanga explained how he had always aspired to be a leader and someone who could be relied upon, first idolising catalysts who made things happen on the pitch, before looking towards those who led the line off of it.
“Growing up as a child, I always dreamt of being a hero, I watched football players like Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham – the big men in the arena that everybody looks up to, the hero of the fans, the hero of the people, the person that people can rely on. I wanted to be that person.
“Like many other kids, I took up football because I saw myself as the hero. But my second dream was to be a football hooligan, after watching the movie ‘Green Street: Hooligan’, where I saw the main character having the same thing as the football players and being the hero of his team, being the person that people can rely on, being a hero.”
Inspired by Charlie Hunnam’s portrayal of Pete Dunham in the popular British film, Nanga began to pursue his second dream and joined up with the hooligans of his local football team, Hammarby I.F., before being told that he was wasting his talent by fighting without being paid for it.
“I saved up to buy some tickets to the football game for my local team and tried to locate the hooligans after watching all of these movies. I went up to them and I told them ‘Hi, I want to join you guys’, and they looked at me [funny], of course, but that was my dream.
“I took it seriously, the firm that I was with used to train three times per week in a local boxing club, just sparring basically. We would just put on gloves and spar; everyone was different weight-classes, different experience, some were professional and had some fights and some were novices.
“I started at 15-years-old with these old geezers and they were the ones that told me that I had talent and that I should do something more with it. I told them that I wanted to be a hooligan, and they told me that it was not what you see in the movies and that if you have got talent then you should go for it.
“People call it fate and say that it was meant [to happen], what would happen if I had been rooting for another team, would my story be different? Maybe.”
Fast-forward a few years and Nanga proved his skills by twice reaching the final of the Swedish National Championships as an amateur, before turning professional in 2021 and scoring knockouts in his first six contests.
Having since stepped up the competition, five of Nanga’s last six wins have come against opponents with winning records and a visit to Austria to face 16-0 Bernardin Jakaj on away soil saw the Angolan-Swede bank a career-best win.
That triumph caught the attention of many boxing fans and fighters, but most notably of three-time heavyweight world champion, Lennox Lewis, who has since become the advisor of 28-year-old ‘Costas’, ahead of what he hopes to be a breakthrough year in 2025.
“We have got a mutual friend who introduced us to each other, and we got in contact, Lennox came to my training camp and watched me train and today we are here. He is my advisor, my mentor and somebody that I look up to, not only for what he has done in the ring, but mostly for the person that he is.
“I believe that everything that he achieved inside of the ring has to do with the person that he is regularly. You can’t separate those things, and it is great to have that person as my advisor.”
With Lewis by his side, Nanga has now been presented with the mammoth opportunity to fight on the upcoming ‘Riyadh Season’ card headlined by the rematch of Artur Beterbiev, 21-0 (20 KOs), and Dmitry Bivol, 23-1 (12 KOs), where the undisputed light-heavyweight crown is at stake.
In one of the earlier fights on the bill, Nanga has been pitted up against well-respected Briton, Brad Rea, 20-1 (10 KOs), who has only been defeated by former European middleweight champion, Tyler Denny, in a defeat that has aged well, before moving up two divisions to fight at 175lbs.
With plenty of tape available on Rea, Nanga and his team have been studying the Stretford-born contender since signing for the fight, hoping to spot a chink in the armour. Although, it was instead a different discovery that sparked Nanga’s interest.
“We have been watching his tapes and I will keep watching his tapes obviously because that is a part of our teams’ tactics and strategy. I know that he is a Manchester City fan and that is a big issue because I am a [Manchester] United fan, that is another reason for us to step into the ring.
“I want all of the Manchester United fans to understand that it is not about me and Brad Rea, it is also a City vs. United situation that we have got on our hands.
“I don’t take him lightly at all, he is a good fighter, and I look forward to fighting him. I have heard that he is a big name in the U.K. boxing scene, so fighting him and expressing myself in the ring like I do will be a big introduction for me into the U.K. boxing scene.”
A statement win over Rea in an unconventional Manchester derby scrap is sure to do wonders for Nanga’s career, with further opportunities on cards of magnitude likely to follow if he is successful next month.
Yet, when questioned on the pressure upon his shoulders and how he will deal with it, Nanga cut a calm figure, akin to that of a footballer taking a kick-off rather than a penalty, confidently stating his belief that he ‘belongs’.
“Honestly, I feel comfortable, I feel like I belong. I know what I have done, and I know what I do, so there is no need to talk about that. I know what I have to do, and I know what I will do on February 22.”
Nanga-Rea will be joined by a monumental four world title contests on the February 22 card in Riyadh, with a further three interim title bouts adding to what could prove to be one of the greatest boxing events since the turn of the millennium.
