KDF have the last laugh in the seesaw battle between the soldiers and cops in the Kenya National Boxing League
Courageous Police boxer Humphrey “Jakababa” Ochieng survived two standing counts in his fourth consecutive defeat to ruthless Robert Okaka aka Man Man Ngori in the finals of the Kenya National Boxing League third leg at Nakuru’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday, September 20.
Jakababa was expected to rise to the occasion to chalk up his first win over Okaka but the two-time Africa light-heavyweight bronze medallist proved tactically superior, smartly feinting attack with his shoulders before landing his effective right punch which exploded severally on Jakababa’s head and body, resulting in two standing counts in the first and third rounds.
A head-on clash in the second round opened a gash above Okaka’s right eye. The bout was stopped briefly for the ringside doctor to check on the cut before allowing the KDF soldier to continue with his relentless assault on Jakababa who remained upbeat after the defeat.
“In life you can go down many times but NEVER GIVE UP,” said Jakababa likely to be in the Zone 3 team with Okaka.
This is Okaka’s fourth consecutive victory over Jakababa. He now has an option to move down to middleweight or climb up to heavyweight but he’ll encounter stiff opposition from the rulers of the two divisions, African Games middleweight champion Edwin Okong’o and Mbotela product Peter “The Beast” Abuti who has proved to be Kenya’s top heavyweight. Abuti didn’t fight for lack of an opponent. I hope the KDF team received the three points because it wasn’t Abuti’s fault to miss an opponent. He was ready to fight but there was no heavyweight to challenge him.
Okong’o won all his fights inside the distance and in the finals he stopped Kibra’s Ken Omollo in the second round.
The most entertaining and tactical fights of the night were in the light-welterweight and light-middleweight divisions.
Nakuru County’s glamour boy Caleb Wandera found his match in Nairobi’s brilliant southpaw Wiseman Kavondu who put up a gutsy show withstanding Wandera’s heavy punches that saw Kavoundu receiving a standing eight count in the second round courtesy of Wandera’s stinging short right uppercut. Wandera carried the day on a 2-1 victory in this evenly matched and well contested bout. In my opinion, the two boxers should be in Kenya’s two teams for the Africa Zone 3 Championships or one of them moves up to welterweight. Kudos Wandera and Kavondu.
Africa light-middleweight champion, Boniface “The Hammer” Mogunde was fully stretched by Nairobis Francis Lennox in a toe-to-toe exchange that in which both boxers excelled offensively and defensively.
The experienced Mogunde switched to body attacks in the third round. A digging right to the ribs had Lennox down to the canvas on his right knee for an eight count followed shortly by another eight count as Mogunde realised Lennox could not withstand body punches on his way to a unanimous points victory.
With this hard-fought win, Mogunde maintained his seven-year unbeaten run locally. He acknowledged the Nairobi boxer’s valiant show.
“I’ll be happy to be with Lennox in the national team, I need such kind of tough fighters to be able to improve myself he’s a very good boxer,” Mogunde told boxersworld.co.ke after the fight.
In a show of true sportsmanship, Mogunde had a brief chat with Lennox encouraging him to keep on working harder reminding him he’s a worthy successor.
KDF’s reigning Africa Military Games bantamweight champion Dennis Muthama maintained his impressive performance stopping Emmanuel Odhiambo of G44 in the first round after seeing off Africa bronze medallist Shaffi Bakari on Thursday.
Muthama has sharpened a snapping right punch which seems to be his main weapon now.
In the women’s fights, African Games bronze medallist Amina Martha Faki maintained her unbeaten run locally by punishing Mombasa’s brave Mercy Fridah in all the three rounds enroute to a unanimous points win.
Boxgirls’ promising international flyweight Lencer Akinyi lost 2-1 to Nairobi’s Faith Nafula who made her international debut in the 2024 Africa Elite Championships in Kinshasa, DR Congo.
The finals were graced by Nakuru County’s charming Sports CS Elgah Riaga. She promised to support Nakuru’s boxers regain their lost glory. What a fight night it was for the women in boxing as Riaga posed for a picture session in the with the female R&Js and the boxers. Hi-Fiver to Riagah, Technical Delegate Isaac Mbote and R&Js Evaluator Mwangi Muthoga who officiated for 36 years before calling it quits in 2018.
Defending champions KDF won the third leg of the Kenya National Boxing League with 23 points followed by Kenya Police 15 points, Nairobi County 9, Nakuru ABC 8 and fifth-placed Prisons 6.
After the third leg of the league, focus now turns to the Africa Zone 3 Championships in Nairobi from October 15-25.
National team head coach Musa Benjamin and his deputy David Munuhe were in Nakuru. I’m sure they must have spotted some worthy national team call ups to beef up the two teams to represent Kenya in the highly anticipated Africa Zone 3 Championships.
