The two star boxers have pro fights on October 30 in Kinshasa vying for WBC Africa titles
DR Congo’s star boxers, middleweight David Tshama and light-heavyweight Pita Kabeji, have pulled out of the Africa Zone 3 Boxing Championships in Nairobi from October 15-25.
The two Zone 3 defending champions are vying for WBC Africa title fights on October 30 in Kinshasa, DR Congo, and therefore have been ruled out of the Nairobi event to enable them prepare adequately and avoid injuries in Zone 3 tournament which will be fiercely contested with bombing punches exploding every day.
“It’s unfortunate our two top boxers will not be in Nairobi because of their title fights in Kinshasa,” the Deputy
Secretary-General of the Congolese Boxing Federation, Pierre Ambongi, told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview from Kinshasa.
“They will fight for the WBC Africa titles and WBC cannot allow them to fight 45 days before the title fights but they will be in Dubai for World Championships,” said Ambongi.
The withdrawal of the two boxers is a big blow to DR Congo’s spirited campaign to retain the overall title they’ve won for two years running in 2021 and 2022. Tshama is the two-time Africa champion while Kabeji has won the Africa title of three years in a row.
The absence of Kabeji in the light-heavyweight class now leaves Tanzania’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Yusuf Changalawe as the gold medal favourite as Kenya’s two-time Africa Championships bronze medallist Robert “Man Man Ngori” is unlikely to take part in the Zone 3 Championships because of a tight work schedule at KDF, his employer.
With Tshama out, the battle for the middleweight title is now between Kenya’s African Games champion Edwin Okong’o and Uganda’s vicious body puncher Alfred Ojok.
So far 12 countries have confirmed taking part in the Africa Zone 3 Championships. They are DR Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Somalia, Gabon, Rwanda, Uganda, Central African Republic and host Kenya with two teams.
Chad and Equatorial Guinea have yet to confirm participation in the eagerly awaited showdown to feature the region’s top boxers.
