Year Ender: For Kenyan boxers, they have been all bark, no bite

For the first time in six decades, Kenya did not have a representative at the Summer Olympics.

The Olympics were held in Paris, France from July 26 to August 11, 2024.

Despite featuring in Africa Olympic Qualifiers (AOQ) in Dakar, Senegal or in the first and second legs of World Olympic Qualifiers (WOQ) in Italy and Thailand respectively, no Kenyan boxer qualified even through a wild card owing to global rankings to the Olympics.

It was a disappointing record for the national team’s technical bench led by Musa Benjamin, which forced them to go back to the drawing board and chart their destiny in the fight for top honours.

It was total disappointment for boxing lovers who never wanted to hear anything about the sport.

But their disappointment was somewhat thawed when Kenya Police light middleweight pugilist Boniface Mogunde won a gold medal at the Africa Boxing Championships in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo from October 19-27.

Mogunde was the pride of the national boxing team after winning for the first time in seven years, a feat that had been held by former Africa Boxing Championships lightweight champion Nick ‘Commander’ Okoth in 2017 in Congo Brazzaville.

Mogunde defeated Nduwarugira Nesta of Burundi in the light middleweight bout finals.

“It was an easy match in all the three rounds. But my opponent had planned to knock me out but I slowed him down with accurate hits on target while scoring points,” Mogunde said.

As a result, Kenya finished third with four gold, three silver and four bronze medals behind eventual champions Morocco and hosts Democratic Republic of Congo at the continental championships.

The silver medallists were captain and light heavyweight Elizabeth Andiego and super heavyweight Clinton Macharia, while the bronze medallists were flyweight Abednego Kyalo, bantamweights Shaffi Bakari and Amina Martha, light welterweight Alloice Vincent and light heavyweight Robert Okaka.

The positive performance revived hopes to rejuvenate the dwindling standards that had placed Kenya among the minnows in the region and in the continental as opposed to the 70s and 80s when it was a global powerhouse.

Head coach Musa Benjamin said that despite the disappointment, are in the right trajectory and will steadily build a team for the future.

“We have just started to build a team for the future, but it'll be a process that will take a step at a time before we get to where we were as African champions and among global powerhouses,” Benjamin said.

Also to save Kenyans some blushes was Kenya Defence Forces middleweight boxer Edwin Okong’o, who won a gold medal at the Africa Games held in Accra, Ghana in March.

Following the exploits, Okongo was promoted to be an Army sergeant.

Excellent performance by military boxers in the national and international assignments led KDF to win the National Boxing League title for the first time in seven years.

The soldiers were declared league champions after winning the fourth and the penultimate leg of the league championships in Nanyuki with an unassailable 100 points with one leg left.

KDF won it for the first time in seven years dethroning defending champions Kenya Police who had kept the title for seven consecutive years.

In the professional front, consecutive wins by Australian-based super flyweight champion Brian Agina was worth noting.

Agina knocked out Niratsai Panthong of Thailand in the second round to win the Spartan Cup on September 19, the match having been postponed twice earlier in the year.

Agina was earlier scheduled to face the same boxer in a Bob Rose Cup in the World Boxing Promotions (WBP) flyweight title on July 27 at Thomastown in the Victoria region of Australia, but was later cancelled.

The Kenyan born pugilist later on June 29 knocked out Patthaphi Camton in the second round of the Crater Clash in a match that was organised by Australian National Boxing Federation (ANBF).

Earlier on March 29 in the Spartan Cup, Agina had knocked out Abdul Rohman in the first round, a match that was equally organised by ANBF.

So far, Agina’s record stands at seven bouts, with no loss, since turning pro in 2018 after the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

World Boxing Federation (WBF) super lightweight champion Sarah ‘Angel of War’ Achieng’ failed to defend her Commonwealth title against Monalisa Sibanda of Zimbabwe in Kisumu on August 31 having successfully done so against Chiedza Homakoma of Zimbabwe on December 16, 2023.

The Genz protests that rocked the country mid this year was the main cause of its cancellation.

The 38-year old Achieng’ has a record of 16 wins (with eight knockouts) and two defeats from 18 bouts in 18-2-0.

Also on the winning front was World Boxing Federation (WBF) Africa middleweight champion Rayton Okwiri, who won two out of two fights this year.

First, he defeated Limbani Chikapa of Malawi in a four round non-title fight at Boxing and Jammin III in Moka, Mauritius in June.

He defeated Freeman Mabgwe of Zimbabwe in the same city three months later (on September 1) at Paradise Hall Belle Terre winning 60-54.

The last fight was to prepare Okwiri for the World Boxing Association (WBA) showdown against Ugandan Shafik Lukyamuzi, on September 7 in Nairobi, which never came to pass.