“DON’ KING” MUTHOGA PULLS NO PUNCHES ON BIASED OFFICIATING

He has appealed for impartiality and professionalism among the R&Js who will officiate in the third leg of the national league in Nakuru to avoid killing the dreams of innocent boxers and i⁹⁸n the process turnishing the image of Boxing Federation of Kenya

One of Kenya’s most accomplished boxing referee & judge, Mwangi Muthoga aka Don King, has over the years maintained a loud silence on what has now become the cancer of boxing: biased officiating.

In the 36 years he operated as an R&J before stepping out in 2018, Muthoga’s hands were tied and could therefore not discuss this controversial issue publicly. But now that he is unattached, Muthoga has finally come out of his protective shell, speaking candidly to boxersworld.co.ke on this worldwide and age-old ‘disease’ of dubious officiating.

A former boxer at the famous Nakuru Amateur Boxing Club, Muthoga pulls no punches commenting on this scourge.

“I hate biased officiating because you’re killing the dreams of an innocent boxer as well as demoralising the coach who has spent a lot of time in the gym hoping to produce a champion,” says Muthoga.

“Throughout my officiating days and I can say it with authority I’ve never been involved in biased officiating, it’s bad, and as a former boxer I know how it feels when a boxer, his coach and fans know that he/she clearly dominated a bout only to be robbed by the judges due to their own selfishness. We have to speak out openly about biased officiating as the biggest enemy in competitive boxing.”

For this reason, the widely travelled Muthoga has appealed for fairness, integrity and impartiality among the judges who will officiate in the third leg of the Kenya National Boxing League taking place at Nakuru’s Madison Square Garden from today, September 18-20.

“With the Zone 3 Championships happening next month most boxers will try their best to impress BFK selectors for possible inclusion in the national team, it’s therefore important for judges and refs to be extra careful on how they officiate in the three-day national league,” Muthoga cautioned. The Africa Zone 3 Championships is scheduled for October 15-25 in Nairobi.

“This league,” says Muthoga, “will be very crucial because of Zone 3 so all the R&Js must be cautious not to kill the dreams of boxers.

“They must be neutral that is why they wear a white shirt, they should be firm and fair in their decisions otherwise they have no business being in Nakuru, I’m very serious on this issue and I’m telling them to exercise caution because we don’t want to see fans booing an unpopular decision and throwing chairs at the Madison Square Garden due to an unfair decision, we want to see them conduct themselves with maturity and dignity to show why they qualified to be R&Js.”

Muthoga went on:”As we all know dubious officiating is a worldwide problem, we’ve seen it in big international competitions like the Olympics, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Africa Elite Championships. Our own most famous boxer in Kenya the late Philip Waruinge was twice a victim of poor officiating in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics.

“Recently we saw a Korean boxer handing over a gold medal to American boxer Roy Jones Jr because he could no longer live with the guilt of keeping a gold medal he felt should have been awarded to the American boxer robbed of victory at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. That was a very courageous decision by the Korean boxer speaking volumes on the degree of decay in boxing officiating.

“During my 36 years in officiating I’ve seen several unpopular decisions that left me wondering why some R&Js you’re working with can be so unprofessional, I kept on asking myself how would such officials feel if it was their son or daughter being robbed in the ring? It’s so painful and unbearable that’s why we see boxers openly shedding tears in anger after being denied victory they clearly deserved.”

Muthoga says Kenya is no exception on biased officiating with some boxers reportedly deciding to call it quits from boxing in protest.

“We have seen it in our own country especially in the league. A boxer wins clean but my colleagues in white shirts deny the boxer victory for reasons known to themselves. It’s very shameful, we must stop it once and for all because you’re tarnishing the image of BFK led by our respected President Anthony Otieno “Jamal” whose positive contribution to the growth of boxing should be complemented with decent and fair officiating.

“Otherwise I’m very impressed with most of our R&Js, they’re doing a good job and conduct themselves professionally but a few of the R&Js have their own agenda. I want them to know we will not remain silent anymore, we will call them out and recommend stringent measurers against them even if it means banning them so be it. I remind the head of the R&Js to hold a meeting with them before all tournaments to tell them what’s expected of R&Ja while on duty.”

Muthoga, however, adviced R&Js to always stand firm if they feel they’re right in decisions they make in the course of their duties to avoid being influenced by fans or officials. He cites the 2006 Commonwealth Games when a Canadian coach was unimpressed by Muthoga stopping the bout.

“During the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, I stopped a fight involving a boxer from Canada. The coach was very mad with me but since I had made the right decision I was not worried I stood by my decision,” recalls Muthoga.

He also gives an example of some fights in which fans complain of biased officiating just because a boxer was aggressive throwing many punches at his opponent but in reality he was punching the guard, butting (punching with the wrong side of the gloves) or missing the target. Since most fans are not conversant with how judges score points they’ll cry foul when the decision is not in favour of the attacking boxer.

“In such cases you’ll find that the boxer supposedly being attacked guarded himself/herself well, and scored with few but accurate punches,” explains Muthoga who got involved with R&J in 1982 on quitting active boxing in 1980.

He first attended a National R&J Course conducted by Trevor Hill and Mal Duffy in Nakuru. Among other rookies in attendance were Isaac Mbote, John Wachira and David Matheu.

“I started as a judge, then Trevor allowed us to do both refereeing and judging,” says Muthoga and at the 1987 African Games in Nairobi, he qualified as an international R&J in a Continental Course.

Muthoga’s first trip outside the country was in 1986 to Nigeria where he officiated in the Presidents Cup match between the hosts and Kenya.

“I felt very inspired by the trip, I saw myself with a future in refereeing and judging. I’m grateful to Star-3 R&Js Captain Trevor Hill, Humphrey Wamba and Cornelius Monteiro for inspiring me.”

Muthoga’s confidence was further enhanced whe he was selected to officiate in the 1990 King’s Cup Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

“I felt great making my first ever trip outside Africa, it’s a moment I can’t forget,” Muthoga recalls with a deserved sense of pride.

“It gave me more confidence officiating in such a big tournament, my dream was becoming a reality, hearing my name being called out as one of the R&Js made me feel proud of myself.”

His next stop was at the 1995 African Games in Harare, Zimbabwe, then 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, 1999 African Games in South Africa, 2003 African Games in Abuja, Nigeria, 2007 African Games in Algeria , 2011 Maputo African Games, 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, 2008 Olympic Games qualifiers in Windhoek, Namibia, 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in India, 2014 Presidents Cup in Sri Lanka, 2014 African Elite Championships in East London, South Africa.

Muthoga’s last major assignment was in the 2018 First Indian Open Championships after which he stopped officiating.

He looks back with pride and satisfaction his globe-trotting assignments.

“I never imagined I would one day travel in all these countries because as a boxer I was not in the national team but through being an R&J I managed to fly allover the world,” says Muthoga.

“I officiated in over 6000 bouts, my record book is very good I’m proud of myself for what I achieved.”

Muthoga’s most painful setback was his ruthless demotion as a Star-3 R&J in 2009. He attained this highest level in R&J in 2009 while officiating in the Presidents Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Hardly had Muthoga settled down to enjoy his promotion when he received the shocking news that he had been demoted back to Star-2 by AIBA at a time when his morale was sky-high.

Reason? That he had missed officiating in two international tournaments yet it was not his fault.

“It was such a big shock to me, and I was not to blame because the ABA could not get funding from the government to enable me travel outside the country.

“I felt like I had been invited for a delicious dish of pilau then it’s quickly removed from the table without having a single bite, anyway I finally accepted my fate and moved on.”

As a boxer, Muthoga got involved in the sport in 1972 at the Nakuru Amateur Boxing Club under coach Maxie McCullough, Gabriel “Style” Musonye and later Peter Morris. Among his peers then at the club were Sammy Kigos, John Mwangi and Chris “Kawasaki” Kariuki. Kigos and Kawasaki later joined KDF, Mwangi moved to Prisons and Muthoga joined Kenya Police in 1975.

Under the tutelage of Gabriel “Style” Musonye, a former Nakuru ABC international, Muthoga won the 1974 Rift Valley Novices title as a light-flyweight. He then took part in the 1975 National Novices Championships at YMCA in Nairobi. In that same year he fought his way to the finals of the National Intermediates at Desai Memorial Hall, losing in the finals to Philip Kigera who later joined Prisons.

Among his accolades is becoming the 1979 Police light-flyweight champion defeating Africa champion Sande Odanga in the semi-finals and outpointing stubborn southpaw Peter “Kerugoya” Gichuhi in the finals.

Muthoga left Police in 1979 to venture into private business and in 1980 hanged his gloves, switching to R&J in 1982.