BFK’S SUCCESS SCARES AWAY NOISY OPPONENTS IN AGM

“Our opponents are big cowards, they’re just keyboard warriors known for their noise on social media,” said a defiant Competition Secretary John Waweru.

Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) President Anthony Otieno Ombok aka Jamal and his entire executive are set to retain their positions on walkovers in the Annual General Meeting on Saturday (March 1, 2025) at Kasarani Stadion Hotel from 10am.

Reason? They have no opponents to challenge them despite constant criticism from a section of the boxing fraternity on their performance.

Boxing analysts were focusing on a fierce battle for Jamal’s team in their bid for another term in office but as at 6pm on Friday, February 28, no candidate had announced challenging the incumbents whose success must have scared away their opponents.

Outspoken BFK Competition Secretary John Waweru aka CS is in a bullish mood, describing their critics as paper tigers and keyboard warriors whose punches cannot hurt even a cockroach.

“They’ve been making a lot of noise on social media but where are they now to challenge us? Big cowards,” said Waweru, adding: “I’ve been telling them to strategise for the last two years, and they should know that elections are not won on WhatsApp forums but through persuading the voters who are not on social media, if they’re men enough why can’t they face us in the elections?

Waweru likened the noisy opposition to boxers who show a lot of promise in the gym during shadow boxing but coil their tail on the actual competition day never to be seen even at the venue until the tournament is over is when again they start displaying their shadow boxing skills in the gym.

“It’s very easy for them to punch shadows but when faced by real opponents in the ring they are scared stiff,” said Waweru himself a former boxer.

Waweru said a total of 31 counties including Kenya Defence Forces and Kenya Police will take part in the elections.

Prisons and Nakuru will be missing in action. The former have yet to be registered as per the Sports Act while Nakuru have been kept aside following their abortive county elections last Saturday amidst complaints from BFK’s challengers who cited several unsubstantiated irregularities.

The deadline for all candidates to submit their nomination forms was on February 28 at 6pm.

“Our opponents will have to remain in the cold for the next four years until our term expires, however we welcome more noise from them since it’s their right to express their views on social media as they usually do,” said Waweru.

He went on: “We are always open to objective criticism, we can’t be 100 percent perfect but we know we have not done badly, for those who cannot see our achievements that’s their choice we are not doing anything to please anybody, what we want to see is progress of our boxers, coaches, R&Js and overall management of boxing.”

Jamal and team were elected in 2019 taking over from President John Kameta-led Boxing Association of Kenya (BAK) whose legacy is acquiring Sportspesa sponsorship for the national league.

Jamal and team inherited a financially wobbling BAK, changing the name to Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) to have their own identity.

Taking over leadership with nothing in the federation’s bank account coupled with the country’s flagging fortunes in the ring from early 90s, Jamal and team had their work cut out.

But the Bahati-bred Jamal took the bull by the horns leading from the front, and so far they have managed to patch up Kenya’s dented image with a string of remarkable performances at the international level in Africa, empowering coaches, referees and judges as well as exposing more female boxers at the big stage.

What’s more, BFK last December achieved a major milestone in Kenya’s boxing history with the first ever live commentary of the Kenya National Boxing League in Homa Bay in the Western Kenya Region. The livestream will be maintained in this year’s national league season to be viewed on BFK’s YouTube Channel. Several sponsors are reportedly keen to team up with BFK in the coverage which was applauded by boxing fans throughout the country and endeared them to diehard boxing followers and would-be sponsors.

Soon after taking over office, Jamal and team landed running, scooping five medals in the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco. Shaffi Bakari, a product of coach Lemmy “Cobra” Katibi, a former international, won flyweight silver while welterweight Boniface Mogunde, middleweight George Cosby Ouma, heavyweight Elly Adero and US-based super-heavyweight Fred Ramogi returned home with four bronze medals.

The Kenyan national team – under head coach Musa Benjamin assisted by David Munuhe and John Waweru – was on fire in the 2022 season, finishing second in the Zone 3 Championships in Kinshasa, DR Congo with six gold, five silver and seven bronze medals, and claimed three silvers and one bronze in the AFBC African Men’s and Women’s Championships in Maputo, Mozambique.

What’s even more astonishing in the Kinshasa success is that of the six gold medallists, three were female boxers, light-welterweight Teresia Wanjiru, welterweight Everline Akinyi and middleweight Liz Andiego.

Andiego was at it again in Maputo leading two others, featherweight Sam Njau and lightweight Nick Okoth to the finals. They stumbled in the last hurdle winning three silvers and a bronze from light-middleweight Boniface Mogunde.

That was not all. Andiego stamped her name in the record books by becoming the first Kenyan female boxer to appear in the quarter-finals of Women’s World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

Andiego made it twice in a row in the 2023 Women’s Worlds in New Delhi, India appearing in the quarter-finals again. This year in Serbia, the evergreen warhorse Liz is poised to make it to the semi-finals. Christine Ongare also made a mark in India becoming the second female Kenyan boxer to win a bout after Mary Muthoni in 2010 Women’s Worlds in Barbados.

The 2024 season was nothing but super-duper for the Kenyan boxers. Boniface Mogunde won Kenya’s first ever gold medal in seven years in the Africa Championships in Kinshasa where he outpointed Burundi’s Nestor Nduwarugira in the light-middleweight final. The win steered the Kenyans to a remarkable third place with one gold, two silvers by Andiego and super- heavyweight debutant Clinton Macharia and five bronzes by flyweight Abednego Kyalo, bantamweight Amina Martha, featherweight Shaffi Bakari, light-welterweight Vincent Ochieng and light-heavyweight Robert Okaka. That was Kenya’s best ever performance in the Africa Championships since 1983 in Kampala.

Earlier in 2024 during the inaugural Mandela African Boxing Cup tournament, Liz Andiego won middleweight gold with an upset points victory over two-time Africa champion Rady Gramane of Mozambique.

Andiego’s success was followed by another stellar show by Amina Martha and middleweight Edwin Okong’o in the African Games in Accra, Ghana. Yet Kenya was represented by a skeleton team of only four boxers. Amina’s bronze was Kenya’s first ever medal by a female boxer in the African Games while Okong’o won the first gold medal by an East African boxer in 17 years in the African Games.

The Kenyan federation put the icing on the cake to what was their most successful ever season by holding R&Js and coaches courses in Nairobi to ensure the East African country is not left behind in empowering the technical officials whose role is crucial in the development of boxing.

Kudos also to BFK’s Communication Director Duncan Kuria aka Sugar Ray and roving photographer Oppo DiCaprio for using the social media effectively to make the Kenyan boxers more visible to the world. Their lovely photos and videos have come in handy in BFK’s YouTube Channel not to mention the boxers’ frequent appearances in local TV stations that has further enhanced the image of boxing. The sport is one of the two most successful Kenyan disciplines on the international scene after track and field.

Under the dynamic leadership of BFK’s humble and naturally generous President Jamal and his hard working team at the national and county level, there’s every reason to believe BFK’s second term in office will be more prosperous. This further underlines the federation’s ambitious plans of uplifting the standards of this combat sport through their grassroots initiative popularly known as Ndondi Mashinani. The initiative encompasses a systematic approach to junior and youth boxing. That’s the backbone of boxing development in any ambitious country keen on stamping authority in world boxing.

Who is who in the current BFK executive?

President: Anthony Otieno Ombok aka Jamal (Kisumu)

1st Vice-President: Lydia Kinyua (Laikipia)

2nd Vice-President: Chrispine Onyango (Mombasa)

Secretary-General: David Munuhe (Police)

Assistant Secretary-General: Joseph Ochieng (Siaya)

Treasurer: Musa Benjamin (Nairobi)

Assistant Treasurer: Gladys Musavi (Trans Nzoia)

Competition Secretary: John Waweru (Police)

Assistant Competition Secretary: Joselyne Maare (Meru)

Members

Ibrahim Bilali (Makueni)

Moses Kamalik (Kajiado)

Dominic Opiyo (Kisumu)