The two top African middleweights will renew their rivalry in Nairobi next month with the DR Congo boxer declaring total war against Okong’o who says he’ll beat Tshama and then invite him for ugali at his home in Embakasi
The middleweight fight between Kenya’s Edwin Okong’o and DR Congo’s David Tshama will provide an appetising menu in the Africa Zone 3 Championships scheduled for Nairobi from October 15-25, 2025.
Tshama has defeated Okong’o twice in the 2021 and 2022 Africa Zone 3 tournaments at home in Kinshasa, and is now brimming with confidence ahead of the Nairobi bonanza.
“Edwin is my good friend and a very tough fighter but I beat him twice in Kinshasa he should be ready for another defeat at home,” Tshama told boxersworld.co.ke from Johannesburg where he’s preparing for the Zone 3 Championships.
Tshama went on:”I know Edwin’s game now I’ll beat him like a punchbag, he’s taller than me, he keeps on moving I find it difficult to get him but this time I have a new technique I have been taught in Johannesburg, he will cry at home I’m telling him and he should stop running away from me.”
Okong’o laughed off Tshama’s threats reminding him he’s now fighting at home so the DR Congo boxer should be prepared for a hammering.
While the reigning African Games middleweight champion accepts Tshama won their second fight, the first one in 2021 was 50/50.
“The second fight I lost that one I agree but the first one could have gone either way,” says Okong’o, adding:”In Nairobi I will hit Tshama, I’ll then take him to visit our National Park like a tourist and my home in Embakasi we eat ugali and fish he’s my good friend but that ends briefly in the ring.”
Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) Communication Director, Duncan Kuria aka Sugar Ray, shares his views on the last fight between Okong’o and Tshama. He watched the fight in Kinshasa.
“I think Tshama won because he was fighting at home, he did not find his range and struggled throughout the fight. In the forthcoming Zone 3 boxing championships in Nairobi, it will be a very tough fight that I expect Okong’o to win on points.”
Tshama is three-time Zone 3 middleweight champion, twice African title holder, seven-time Lubumbashi and Katanga champion and five times national champion and won ABU belt when he ventured into pro boxing in 2021.
The DR Congo hard-hitting boxer says he has gained a lot during his one-month training stint in Johannesburg, South Africa, preparing for the Africa Zone 3 Championships alongside his teammate, three-time Africa champion Pita Kabeji.
Tshama was born 29 years ago in Lubumbashi, the second largest city in DR Congo.
Okong’o, a cousin to former national team captain Nick Okoth, made his international debut in 2018. He has risen steadily to become one of Kenya’s most reliable boxers during major international competitions.
His most significant achievement was at the 2024 African Games in Accra where he outpointed Morocco’s Yassine Elouarz in the final to win East Africa’s first gold medal in 17 years in the continental games. The Moroccan boxer eliminated Tshama in his earlier fights in Accra.
For that remarkable feat, Okong’o was promoted to the rank of Sergeant by the Commander of Kenya Air Force Major General John Omenda.
