KIBRA YOUTH CLUB BOXERS DEFY POORLY EQUIPPED MAKESHIFT GYM TO PUNCH THEIR WAY TO DUBAI, BANGKOK AND ANGOLA
▪️The four boxers, Paul Omondi, Ellah Demesi, Clinton Omondi and Phelix Ochieng, exemplify resilience and perseverance, turning limited poorly equipped dark training spaces into platforms for national glory
▪️Kibra Youth Club top boxers appeal for sponsorship to enable them buy equipment, transport, and event hosting to achieve championship goals. Despite recent successes, the team needs urgent funding to participate in upcoming tournaments as well as starting income-generaring projects to sustain the club
March 22, 2026
Kibra Youth Boxing Club boxers, Paul “Pacman” Omondi, Ellah Demesi, Clinton “Canelo” Omondi and Phelix Ochieng, have shattered ill-equipped gyms stereotypes, transitioning from training in dimly-lit, makeshift slum gym at Kibra Youth Club to punch their way to Dubai, Bangkok and Angola.
These boxers exemplify resilience, turning limited, dark training spaces into platforms for national glory. Their journey shows unmatched dedication from Kibra’s slums to international arenas.
The man behind this amazing story of bold defience and grit is Kibra Youth Club founder and coach Edward Ogweno aka Dimbuts aka Mbutamtu.
He’s one of the most successful grassroots coaches in Kenya working quietly to produce Africa’s Emerging Stars under extremely difficult conditions in implementing the famed Ndondi Mashinani Initiative of the Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK).
The big breakthrough for Ogweno came in 2025 when Paul Omondi represented Kenya in Africa Zone 3 tournament in Nairobi and Men’s World Championships with Demesi, Omondi and Ochieng together with Kisumu’s Sonia Atieno representing Kenya in the African Youth Games in Angola.
“I was overjoyed seeing my boxers travelling out of Kenya, I felt like it was me going to Dubai and Angola, and above all even flying before me,” quipped Ogweno when he spoke to boxersworld.co.ke as his boxers huffed and puffed at the subdued gym with limited facilities in Kibra, reputed to be Africa’s largest informal settlement.
While the four boxers may have trained in a gym with limited facilities, they showed that they have unlimited ambition by fighting their way to Dubai and Angola.
First was Omondi who made Kibra Youth Club proud, winning a bronze medal in the Africa Zone 3 Championships in Nairobi. It was Omondi’s maiden appearance for the national boxing team.
Omondi got a bye to the semi-finals in the featherweight berth, losing to the more experienced Ugandan Kassim Murungi, the eventual gold medallist.
From the dusty, narrow alleys and vibrant streets of Kibra, the young boxers, driven by hunger for success rather than food, took their slumdog warrior spirit from Nairobi to the world, exporting intense energy to Dubai and Angola. That was a massive leap for Omondi Pacman, Demesi, Clinton Omondi and Ochieng, rising from zonal and local to world and continental competitions.
And they did not disappoint with Omondi Pacman making a successful debut in Men’s World Championships by winning his first fight. The Kibra Youth slugger beat Libya’s Alhed Al-Koum in the round of 32 and lost to 2022 Africa champion, Armando Sigauque of Mozambique in the round of 16. Winning his first fight in his World Championships debut was a remarkable achievement for Omondi. As if that was not enough, Omondi landed a job with the Kenya Police and is currently undergoing training at Kiganjo Police Training College.
In Angola, Clinton Omondi was one of the two Kenyan bronze medallists with Kisumu’s Sonia Atieno at lightweight and Omondi in the flyweight class.
Kenya’s coach John Ochieng aka Chea was full of praise for Omondi’s exemplary performance despite taking part in an international competition for the first time.
Omondi outpointed Namibia’s Kalenga Leevi in the quarter-finals to book a date with DR Congo’s Bofenda Mabela in the semi-finals. Initially he was supposed to fight in minimumweight category but it was not in the schedule so he moved up to flyweight.
“Omondi fought very well, I’m sure if he maintains it he will qualify for the finals,” Ochieng, the owner and head coach of Githurai Thailand Boxing Club in Nairobi, told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview from Angola where he was forced to operate like a night runner, bathing late at night and praying that no player wakes up to do the same because the bathrooms had no doors.
The 2025 national novices and intermediate light-welterweight champion Sonia Atieno won Kenya’s first bronze medal after losing to Tunisia’s Alma Zaara in the semi-finals.
Omondi’s Kibra Youth Club compatriots, flyweight Ellah Demesi was beaten by Tunisia’s Oueslatim Tashmin and featherweight Phelix Ochieng lost to DR Congo’s Mambu Mambone.
“That was a very close fight, Phelix fought very well it could have gone either way,” said coach Ochieng.
Bronze medallist Omondi is happy with the performance of all his teammates from Kibra Youth Club in Angola.
“Wasee wa Malawi walijaribu kutuuzia uoga lakini tulikaa ngumu nikawashow natoka Kibich hard core mwenyewe toughie nikamchapa mtu wao. (The Malawians tried to scare us but I showed them I’m a toughie from Kibra and beat their man clean),” said Omondi
When they stepped into the ring they all knew they carried Kibra’s hopes. The “Slumdog Warriors” moved with the agility of the Nairobi breeze. Their training in the rough makeshift gym in Kibra meant they didn’t just fight; they survived, weaving through punches and delivering their own that felt like lightning bolts. They “roared” in Angola taking home pride and valuable experience that solidified their reputation as tough as nails with hearts of champions.
The stakes were higher in Bangkok for the Futures U19 tournament, featuring boxers from reputable boxing nations such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the USA.
Missing in action was Omondi who could not make it because he was underage. Ellah Demesi and Phelix Ochieng carried the hopes of Kibra Youth Club in the Asian country.
Ochieng was the first one in the ring, putting up a gutsy show against southpaw Doszhan Zhumakhan from Kazakhstan who was smarter, swift and accurate in delivery than the Kenyan in the lightweight encounter. The referee stopped the fight in the first round.
Southpaw Ellah was the most impressive among the four Kenyans in Bangkok. She fought with admirable courage in her flyweight bout against the points winner, Canada’s Mehreen Khakh. What the Kenyan lacked was more fire in her overall delivery and punch accuracy because of failing to find proper range in her attack.
The Bangkok tournament, attended by over 450 boxers from 78 nations, was a qualifier for the Youth Olympics scheduled for Dakar, Senegal, from October 31-November 13, 2026.
Despite the early exit of the Kenyan boxers, the tournament provided crucial international experience for the young team.
For Ochieng and Demesi, participating in the Bangkok event was a huge achievement in that they overcame immense challenges, training in an under-equipped iron-sheet gym to compete at the world stage.
“We all learned a lot in our Bangkok trip, our opponents are more exposed than us and better prepared, we will put all that we learned into practice in our next international assignment,” said 16-year-old Ellah, a Grade 10 student at Shadrack Kimalel School. She was influenced by her younger brother Ramsey Wahu to join boxing.
“My younger brother went to watch a boxing match just here in Kibra, when he returned home he told me to give it a try and when I tried I was hooked,” recalls Demesi.
Kibra Youth Club coach Ogweno is satisfied by the performance of his four boxers in Dubai, Bangkok and Angola.
What inspires Ogweno to train the youngsters at his club without any payment?
“I’m inspired to give back to the community because I was a boxer myself, and having lived in Kibra for a long time I know the place very well,” said Ogweno.
“Most important as a coach I wanted to keep away the boxers from drug abuse, bad company and early marriages plus instil discipline in them. It’s not easy being a coach in the slums because the boxers face many challenges, therefore I do more than coaching at times playing the role of a father to advice them and tackle the problems they face from home and their personal issues.”
As a boxer, Ogweno got into the sport in 1988 after dropping out of school. Over to Ogweno for his own story in boxing.
“My first coach was Elias Gabiraari of Kibra Olympics Boxing Club. That was my first club, my second club was Railway Training School where I participated in KECOSO Games in 1992, then I moved to Kenya Prisons where I took part in the novices and intermediate in 1993 in Ndenderu, Kiambu County, then I joined Langata Barracks as civilian. In 1993 and 1994 I trained with the AFABA team from there I stopped boxing. I got job in Industrial Area working in a plastic company known by the name General Plastic. I worked for 13 years then I terminated the work, and turned to coaching.”
Ogweno established Kibra Youth Boxing Club in October, 2023. It’s an offshoot of Kibera Olympics Club handled by the renowned coach in Kibra, Hassan Salim, who has been instrumental in training notable boxers, among them Amina Martha. She began her career under his guidance in 2018. Amina made history at the 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana, winning bantamweight bronze to become the first ever Kenyan female boxer to win a medal in the African Games.
Coach Hassan is a glutton during training, pushing boxers to the brim and is known for his strict training regimens, often quoted as saying, “If you work hard in training, the fight will be easier,”
Hassan was with Ogweno at Kibra Olympics but owing to the large number of boxers, they agreed to split into two, and that’s how Kibra Youth Club was born.
“Right now in Kibra Youth Club I have about 60 boxers very determined to climb the ladder,” Ogweno told boxersworld.co.ke. “Some have returned to boxing inspired by the success of Paul Omondi and the youth boxers.”
The success of Omondi Pacman is a testament on how boxing is transforming the lives of youth in Kibra.
Boxing has provided a powerful alternative to crime, drug abuse and poverty while creating pathways to international fame and employment for the youth.
Through boxing the youth have also been able to fly out of the country.
Coach Ogweno is honest on whether he has ever flown within or outside Kenya.
“To be very honest I’ve never seen the inside of a place let alone flying, so I’m happy for my boxers flying before me. That’s my joy.”
Ogweno is one of the grassroots coaches spearheading BFK’s Ndondi Mashinani Initiative.
To empower the coaches, the national federation has organized several national and Star 1&2 courses, and Ogweno is one of the beneficiaries.
“I thank BFK for giving me an opportunity to attend a national course in 2023 and Star-1 course in December 2024 to January 2025, I passed with flying colours. I appreciate the IBA for their good job,” said the Star-1 Ogweno who is addicted to eating “mbuta” fish hence the nickname Mbutamtu.
“With this knowledge we have gained we are now able to implement the Ndondi Mashinani program professionally.”
One of the challenges facing grassroots coaches is lack of equipment and some promising boxers quitting boxing prematurely owing to limited employment opportunities.
The only reliable employers currently are Kenya Defence Forces, Police and Kenya Prisons with KDF leading the way.
“We are grateful to KDF, Police and Prisons for employing some boxers but it’s not possible for them to employ all boxers,” notes Ogweno.
“Some of my good boxers like Boni have quit boxing for boda boda (motorbike) business to make ends meet, and put food on the table for their families.”
Contacted, Boni, whose full name is Boniface Mose Morara confirmed he left boxing in 2024 because he wanted to make money to feed his young family.
“There’s no money we earn in our boxing, when a boxer reaches the stage of settling down with a family it’s difficult to continue boxing for nothing,” said Boni, adding:”If we had several prize money tournaments that will sustain us, we box in the league but there’s nothing we get, that’s why I had to start boda boda business at least now I can feed my family.”
Boni explained he didn’t permanently quit boxing, and that he’s planning a comeback once he has stabilised financially.
“I’m appealing to sponsors to support Kibra Youth Club, they can even start a cyber business for boxers to make an income,” said Boni who was a thorn in the flesh to his opponents in the light-welterweight class. Among his victims include KDF’s Washington Wandera.
