▪️With IBA now allowing boxers to fight in pro and amateur boxing Liz aka Mkono Chuma is infact looking forward to the Africa Championships to captain Hit Squad
March 26, 2026
Who said Liz Andiego has quit amateur boxing? And that she will not represent Kenya’s national boxing team nicknamed Hit Squad? Far from it.
As this picture shows, Liz is still part and parcel of Kenya’s national team and is looking forward to represent the country in the 2026 Africa Men’s and Women’s Elite Boxing Championships in which there’s a total of $1000,000 at stake, courtesy of IBA whose prize money tournaments have become very popular and useful to boxers worldwide in this era of commercialisation in sports with medals gradually losing their meaning.
I caught up with Andiego doing her workouts under the national boxing team deputy head coach David Munuhe who is also the Secretary-General of the Boxing Federation of Kenya.
“Andiego is still with us, huyu ni wetu,” Munuhe told boxersworld.co.ke.
“We allowed her to fight as a pro to maintain her shape and gain ring time because she has no opponents in Kenya,” said Munuhe as he held pads for Andiego at the Police Depot Gym in Mathare.
Andiego has not fought a Kenyan opponent for three years now. They’re all scared of her.
As Andiego prepares to take on Tanzania’s Nelusigwe Mdemu on Friday, March 27, 2026, in Kalakoda Promotions card at Masshouse along Ngong Road, she has also responded to some fans and former boxers who have been suggesting it’s time for her to call it quits.
“I advice them to let me decide on my own when I’ll quit boxing, surely I don’t know what’s itching them. They should let me do my job to make money when I’m still strong,” Andiego told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview.
“IBA rules specify clearly 40 years is the age limit, I’ve not reached there, and once I’m 40, I’ll still continue fighting as a pro until such a time I feel my mind is not coordinating well with my body.”
Andiego recalls at the 2022 Women’s World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey’s heavyweight Sennur Demir won gold at 39 years defeating Morocco’s icon Khadija Mardi in the finals. Andiego lost to Turkey’s Elif Guneri in the quarter-finals of the light-heavyweight berth.
Commenting on her pro debut against the Tanzanian boxer, Andiego said while she normally respects her opponents, Mdemu should be ready for her fists of stone.
“I’ll punch her hard she feels me, I’ll be in charge of the fight l’ll not let her play around with me,” said the 38-year-old Andiego, East Africa’s most decorated female boxer.
The last time Andiego fought a Tanzanian boxer was during the 2025 Africa Zone 3 Championships in Nairobi. She stopped Salma Changalawe in round two of the middleweight semi-finals, and in the finals Andiego dropped a suspicious points defeat to DR Congo’s Mwamba Lulua.
Andiego was due to have made her debut on February 27 against another Tanzanian boxer, Christina Raura, but the bout was cancelled just hours before the fight due a medical issue.
Word has it her pressure had exceeded the maximum allowed during a fight. Such cases are common in boxing when some boxers’ pressure shoots up especially if one is meeting a tough opponent.
