▪️Africa had 13 boxers in the pre-quarters on Monday but only three, Robert Okaka, Uganda’s Bob Turyatemba and Mali’s Djibril Traore qualified for the quarter-finals and are now in the $10,000 money bracket
▪️The second pre-quarters take place today with 19 boxers in action while a total of 82 have already been eliminated with 22 still in the competition
Dominant Robert Okaka produced a scintillating show of power-punching, superb timing and a relentless stream of accurate jabs to stop Tunisia’s Youssef Rafrafi in the third round at the Dubai Tennis Complex on Monday, December 8, 2025.
In seeing off the Tunisian, Okaka becomes the first ever Kenyan boxer in 43 years to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Men’s World Boxing Championships.
The last time Kenyan boxers made it to the quarter-finals in IBA’s signature event was in 1982 in Munich, Germany, through Olympics bronze medallist Ibrahim “Surf” Bilali and Hussein “Juba” Khalili who lost to the highly regarded Pernell Whittaker of the USA while Bilali was beaten by South Korea’s Yong-Mo Heo.
Fueled by his unyielding determination to excel at the big stage and the enticing IBA’s top prize money of $300,000, Okaka has been in devastating form in Dubai. The Kenyan soldier dominated Tunisia’s 2024 Africa Championships bronze medallist Youssef Rafrafi stopping him in the third round of the light-heavyweight round of 16.
Soon after the first bell, Okaka carried the fight to Rafrafi with accurate jabs to the body and upstairs. He floored Rafrafi with a solid right punch to the chin in the second for an eight count.
Stung by Okaka’s strong punches, the Tunisian began back-peddling with energised Okaka in pursuit. He was rattled by another dose of Okaka’s cracking right punch for two successive counts of eight. The referee then waved it off to save a well beaten Rafrafi from a possible disaster.
Jubilant Kenyans were in high spirits joined by boxers from other African countries to celebrate Okaka’s remarkable achievement.
In the course of this excitement, Botswana and Kenyan boxers nicknamed head coach Musa Benjamin the lGeneral for successfully plotting the downfall of the Tunisian.
“Right now I’m over the moon with Okaka’s historic victory and overall performance of our boxers,” a jovial General Musa told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview from Dubai.
“We have over the years put in countless hours, blood, sweat and sacrifice. We’re therefore very happy to see our efforts bear fruits through the good performance of our boxers.”
Musa was elated by Okaka’s authority in the ring.
“Okaka showed grit, heart, discipline, focus and made right adjustments, stuck to the plan and that’s how we stormed the quarterfinals in amateur boxing’s biggest and toughest competition. We hope to see Paul Omondi do the same today.”
As usual Okaka remained composed after demolishing the Tunisian boxer.
“First of all I thank God for what I’ve achieved and look forward to more victories,” said Okaka, adding:”I used my game plan in the first round plus what my corner had advised me to do. I’m happy all went according to plan, I’m very grateful to head coach Musa Benjamin our General.”
Kenya’s Paul Omondi is among the 19 African boxers in today’s round of 16 bouts taking on African Games featherweight silver medallist Armando Sigauque of Mozambique.
Cape Verde’s Olympic Games bronze medallist David Pina, African Games champion Patrick Chinyemba and three-times African champion Pita Kabeji of DR Congo take to the ring today with high hopes of victory.
Chinyemba is joined by compatriots, African Games silver medallists Mwengo Mwale and Emmabuel all with bright prospects of qualifying for the quarter-finals to make up for the defeat of their compatriot Andrew Chilata who was KO’d in the second round by Kazakhstan’s Serik Temirzhanov in the lightweight pre-quarters on Monday.
Africa heavyweight champion Karamba Kebe of Senegal gave a good account of himself against Cuba’s superstar Julio Cesar La Cruz who won by unanimous decision.
So far 82 African boxers have been eliminated from the competition with 22 still remaining in the race for major honours in Dubai.
