▪️Rising stars Ben Juma and his younger brother Chris Juma, Dennis Muthama, Joseph Moses and Ayub Waweru topple established internationals as Sombea Boxing Club emerge as the new powerhouse in the Rift Valley
May 17, 2026
Defending champions Kenya Police and traditional rivals KDF fought to a thrilling 22-point tie in the first leg of the 45th Kenya National Boxing League at the Old Town Hall in Nakuru on Saturday, May 16, 2026. The nail-biting finish sets the stage for a blockbuster showdown in the second leg of the league in Mombasa from July 9-11.
Police and KDF tied at 22 points to jointly hold the top spot followed by Sombea 10 pts, Nairobi County 9pts with Prisons and Nakuru ABC fourth with 7 pts each and fifth-placed Kasarani Youth 6 pts.
The fiercely contested three-day tournament delivered massive shocks to the system, proving that the gap between seasoned titans and hungry prospects is rapidly closing.
Africa silver medallist in 2022 Samuel Njau, Zone 3 minimumweight champion Silas Onyango and 2024 Africa Championships bronze medallist Aloice Vincent were beaten by the rising stars with Nakuru ABC southpaw James Tachia sparkling in the flyweight class as KDF’s self-proclaimed landlord of this weight category, Africa Military Games champion Kelvin “Young” Maina watched the proceedings at the packed Old Town Hall.
Nakuru roared with pride as their pugilists took the ring by storm. In a stunning victory, Nakuru’s southpaw Joseph Moses shocked IBA Africa Zone 3 minimumweight champion Silas Onyango of Police with a 4-3 points defeat. Nakuru’s flyweight southpaw James Tachia also sparkled, thrilling the partisan crowd with his dazzling footwork and crisp combinations outpointing KDF’s Emmanuel Chondo in the semis and Abdullah Juma of Police in the finals to add to the jigsaw puzzle in the flyweight berth with another notable boxer in the same weight class Diouf “Bashday” Muimi still undergoing military training in Eldoret.
Capitalizing on the electric home atmosphere, Sombea Boxing Club proved they are the new powerhouse in Nakuru’s fight scene, clinching a remarkable second place finish watched by BFK’s President Anthony Otieno aka Jamal who attended Friday’s semi-finals, and posed for a photo with Ayub Waweru flanked by the founder of Sombea Martin Luther.
Making a comeback to the local scene after almost two years out of action, KDF’s Samuel Njau lost to sensational Kasarani Youth Club lightweight Ben Juma who dominated Njau on the opening day before the referee stopped the fight in the third round after Njau sustained a cut above his right eye.
Fireworks are in the offing in the second leg in Mombasa with Njau going back to the gym to sharpen himself and Kenya Open champion Emmanuel Omollo in the mix after staying out of the Nakuru show owing to personal commitments. Who will laugh last between Samuel Njau, Ben Juma and Emmanuel Omollo in Mombasa? This one is a cracker!
Sombea’s pressure fighter Ayub Waweru squeezed a 3-2 points win over Prisons’ Aloice Vincent in an action-packed light-welterweight fight which could have gone either way. A heavy right thundered on Waweru face in the second round for an eight count by Star-3 R&J Samuel Obiero. Much as Aloice tried to box the aggressive Sombea boxer, at times he threw caution to the wind to engage him in a toe-to-toe exchange. The two have a score to settle in the second leg of the league in Mombasa.
Silas Onyango was outboxed by the 21-year-old Nakuru’s Joseph Moses, showing once again he has yet to master tackling a southpaw opponent. The unemployed Moses started boxing in 2017 at the Nakuru Amateur Boxing Club under coach Lemid Thiong’o, and hopes through boxing he will eventually land a job.
Kenya Open bantamweight champion Dennis Muthama of KDF maintained his dominance, first outpointing Police’s experienced international Shaffi Bakari and then defeated Prisons’ promising southpaw Chris Musyoka who was unlucky with a deep right eyebrow gash following a head-on collision with Muthama, losing via RSC abandonment in the second round. With blood oozing from the cut, it was not easy for Musyoka to concentrate on the fight but he has enough time to recover. Judging from his impressive show, Muthama cannot sit pretty for now. There’s still work to be done here.
IBA Africa Zone 3 featherweight silver medallist Mwinyi Kombo aka The Giant Killer once again underperformed against the lanky Kasarani Youth Kenya Open featherweight champion Chris Juma who subjected Kombo to three standing counts enroute to his second victory over the Police boxer having defeated Kombo in April’s Kenya Open finals at Kaloleni Social Hall. So far it’s 2-1 for Chris over his big rival Kombo who beat him in the 2024 Kenya Open finals.
Africa light-middleweight champion Boniface “The Hammer” Mogunde of Police maintained his eight-year unbeaten run locally, easily seeing off Sombea’s Maxwell Michael via second round RSC abandonment while African Games champion Edwin Okong’o proved he’s still the king of the middleweights with an impressive 5-0 win over Kibra Olympic’s Ken Omollo.
IBA World Championships quarter-finalist Robert Okaka aka Man Ngori is still ruling the light-heavyweight class with an iron fist, ruthlessly stopping George Cosby of Police who received three counts of eight before the referee waved if off in the first round.
At cruiserweight, KDF’s Chris Ochanda put up a refined show to beat Kenya Open champion Humphrey Ochieng aka Jakababa 5-0 to send a subtle message to the cop that he’s in charge of this weight class. After losing five times to Robert Okaka, Jakababa moved to cruiserweight but it seems his new home is still full of thorns.
The women’s bouts were equally mesmerizing. Kenya’s boxing glamour girls Veronica Mbithe demonstrated brilliant form, while the explosive Friza Asiko maintained her domination, stopping Sombea’s Winnie Shisiali in the first round with sheer class and power. Mbithe had no time to waste with Nairobi’s Joyce Nyaga whom she stopped in one minute 42 seconds of the first round flyweight bout.
Good news to the female boxers. Word has it that from the second leg of the league, their points will be counted for the overall standings of their teams. This is a positive move which will definitely encourage clubs to bring on board more women boxers in their teams to feature in Africa’s oldest boxing league. See you in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa for another exciting non-stop action.
