Kenya’s latest female light-welterweight find, Cynthia Mwai, has been sitting pretty secure in the knowledge she’s now home and dry after punching her way to the national team.
Within a short span since she started boxing in 2023 at Nyahururu Boxing Club under coach David Wambua, the 20-year-old Cynthia announced her arrival in Kenya boxing by clinching the national novices title that same year. She then added the intermediate lightweight crown in 2024 and went on to represent Mombasa Combined team in Tanga, Tanzania where won one bout and lost the next fight to Africa Championships bronze medallist Najma Isike.
Cynthia’s impressive performance made the national team selectors to sit up and take notice. It therefore came as no surprise when she deservedly made her way to the national team which participated in this year’s Women’s World Championships in Serbia.
Hardly has the talented Cynthia settled in the national team, there’s this equally promising 18-year-old student, Sonia Atieno, from the lakeside city of Kisumu threatening to unseat her in this berth previously the fort of Zone 3 champion Teresiah Wanjiru, now a Star-1 coach
Atieno showed her potential in clinching the national intermediate light-welterweight title in Thika on April 5, 2025. She put up a dominant performance to stop Nairobi’s Cynthia Wambui in the third round.
Depending on the draw and number of entries in women’s light-welterweight, these two Africa’s Emerging Stars are poised to face off in the Kenya Open scheduled for April 16-19 in Nairobi. This one will definitely be a cracker to keep fans on the edge of their seats. Be there don’t miss it
Cynthia is now pondering on how she will handle the determined Atieno who is also the national novices champion.
To overcome Atieno, Cynthia will have to be faster and get over her habit of dropping her hands. She could easily kiss the canvas courtesy of Atieno’s powerful diagonal right punch.
Is Atieno worried about the possibilty of fighting Cynthia in Nairobi?
“I’m not shaken at all even if she has represented Kenya, I want to take over,” Atieno told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview.
A grade nine pupil at Central Primary School in Kisumu, Atieno said she is now training harder than before at Korumba Boxing Club under her coach Charles Onyango who has been handling Atieno since she started boxing in 2023.
Cynthia is currently sweating it out with the Kenya Defence Forces team preparing for the Kenya Open at Jamhuri Park under experienced coaches with a wealth of knowledge in boxing. Among them include former internationals Sammy Magima, Nick Abaka, Black Moses Mathenge, Nick Okoth, Tabu Orieyo and Simon Mulinge.
BFK MEDIA
