For all his determination to lift up Nakuru boxing, Wandera has experienced significant hardships due to unemployment forcing him to wash car windscreens and carry loads of vegetables at the market to survive illustrating his resilience in the face of adversity
Nakuru County, once a flourishing boxing metropolis, can heave a sigh of relief following Caleb Wandera’s inclusion in Kenya’s national team to participate in the Africa Zone 3 Championships from October 16-24 at Kasarani Gym, Nairobi.
Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) wisely put aside politics of destruction and looked at Wandera as a promising boxer capable of excelling for the country and uplift himself financially if his potential is properly nurtured.
The 24-year-old Wandera has ended more than a decade of Nakuru being unrepresented in the national team despite its glorious past, producing some of Kenya’s best boxers such as Olympic bronze and silver medallist Philip Waruinge, his younger brother Sammy Mbogwa, John Nderu, George Findo, Isaiah Ikhoni, Peter Odhiambo and John Wanjau to mention but a few.
A member of Flamingo Boxing Club, Wandera, who arrived in Nakuru in 2019 from Busia County where he was born, has revived hopes of Nakuru’s ardent boxing fans whose morale is upbeat in that finally they have a boxer in the national team.
Still, this does not give respite to Nakuru Amateur Boxing Club’s faded image as this once great boxing club in Kenya has actually been the granary of the top boxers from Nakuru County.
Affectionately known by its venue, Madison Square Garden, Nakuru ABC has yet to regain that commanding stature of its glamourous past.
Positively, however, the Nakuru ABC members and the rest of the county have every reason to walk tall in view of the fact that Wandera is a product of Nakuru County.
Wandera is indeed the current face of boxing in Nakuru as was evidenced recently at the Madison Square Garden when cheering fans reached a crescendo inspiring their hero to a unanimous points victory over Nairobi’s southpaw Wiseman Kavondo in a well contested light-welterweight bout during the finals of the Kenya National Boxing League’s third leg.
Kenya’s national boxing team head coach, Musa Benjamin, was also at Madison Square Garden closely monitoring Wandera from the preliminaries.
Impressed and satisfied by Wandera’s performance, Musa included him in Kenya’s team for the Africa Zone 3 Championships in Nairobi. He’s in the light-welterweight division together with Africa Championships bronze medallist Aloice Vincent Ochieng, now a recruit at Kenya Prisons.
Wandera singles out Ochieng as his toughest opponent so far in Kenya.
“I have fought Aloice Vincent five times and he defeated me in all the fights, I respect him,” Wandera told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview as he prepares to make his international debut in the Zone 3 Championships with Nakuru fans fully behind their hero who has ended their long wait to be represented again in the national team.
How long has it taken Nakuru County to produce a boxer worthy for selection in Kenya’s national team nicknamed Hit Squad?
Mwangi Muthoga aka Don King is a former boxer and official of Nakuru ABC. He later joined the Kenya Police and on quitting boxing in 1980 he became a referee/judge in 1982, serving with distinction for 36 years as R&J attaining Star-2 level. He’s the one I engaged to find out the last time Nakuru had boxers in the national team.
“It’s now 12 years we have not been represented in the national team. If my memory serves me right the last boxers from Nakuru in Kenya’s team were John Kariuki and Mary Muthoni both lightweights,” recalls Muthoga.
“Muthoni was in the national team in 2010 and 2012 World Championships and Kariuki in the 2013 World Championships in Kazakhstan, since then we have not had a boxer in the Kenya team, that’s 12 years.”
I ask Muthoga why has Nakuru, known for producing outstanding boxers, been in the cold for over a decade?
“It’s really difficult to say but I think lack of exposure and commitment have contributed to the decline in the standard of our boxers,” responds Muthoga.
While Muthoga has hit the target a on commitment, he does however not elaborate why there’s been lack of commitment on the part of the boxers.
Ring analysts cite lack of employment opportunities and negligence of the boxers as one of the major contributory factors especially after Kenya Breweries, Posta, KPA and Kenya Railways disbanded their boxing clubs owing to lack of returns on their boxing expenditure and of course unhealthy economic climate.
Enthusiasm in the sport among the boxers stemmed from the fact that they would land jobs in the aforementioned organisations. Prisons and Police have also not been employing boxers as they used to do in the 60s, 70s and 80s with KDF remaining as the only forces club employing most of the boxers with Prisons coming back into the picture this year by employing three boxers among them Zone 3 national team members Aloice Vincent and Jane Wangare.
Top boxers such as Isaiah Ikhoni, John Wanjau, Peter “Dynamite” Odhiambo, Anthony Ikegu, Dan Mwangi, Chris “Kawasaki” Kariuki landed jobs at Breweries, Posta and KDF. This motivated Nakuru boxers to work harder to be offered jobs in those organisations.
That aside, the business community in Nakuru, the County itself and the officials have not been supportive of their boxers judging from how Kawasaki and Muthoni struggled doing odd jobs. On quitting KDF and Telkom, Kawasaki ventured into handkart business.
Unfortunately, even Wandera, for all his dedication, has found himself on the same path of his predecessors. In the absence of formal jobs, Wandera resorted to informal labour which is physically demanding and low-paying.
“My life outside the ring has not been easy,” says Wandera, adding:”Being the first born in a family of three brothers and two sisters and without a father I’m the only breadwinner to our family.
“With no jobs available despite being a form four school leaver I’ve been forced to wash car windscreens and carrying heavy luggage for business people at the market.
“I lost my father in January this year (2025), and completed form four in 2017 at Malaga Mixed Seconfary School. After the death of my father I’m now the breadwinner, I earn like Sh250 washing windscreens of matatus and 600 for personal cars but it’s not a daily income that’s why I’m forced to carry heavy luggages at the market. People just cheer me in the ring but don’t bother to know what I do for a living.”
Such is the harsh life facing boxers in Nakuru and elsewhere in Kenya. Yet Nakuru County is capable of employing boxers and other companies in town.
Little wonder some boxers have lost interest in the sport upon realising jobs are elusive and nobody cares about their welfare.
That’s why Wandera is excited since moving to Nairobi to join the national team hoping the KDF barons or any good Samaritan will get him a permanent job to feed his mum and siblings.
He’s working hard to excel in the Africa Zone 3 Championships which could open the floodgates to financial stability for the big-hitting boxer who got involved with boxing in 2022.
“I started with taekwondo but the game became expensive for me because of several expenses. In October the same year I decided to switch to boxing, I then spoke to coach Peter Githinji he told me about registration so I was paying Sh100 every Friday. He taught me the basics and since I was not new to combat sports having played taekwondo it was easy to adjust.I was training with Flamingo Boxing Club at their gym in the estate.”
In December, 2022, Wandera, armed with the elementary knowledge from coach Githinji, entered an inter-club competition in Nakuru.
“I was so happy I emerged the winner, and this further encouraged me to work hard to improve.”
Wandera is basically a slugger relying on his sheer natural strength to put his opponents under intense pressure to either knock them out or end the bout inside the distance.
He shot into prominence in 2023 during a Kenya National Boxing League match in Embu town where he knocked out KDF’s Pius Macharia in the second round and KO’d him again in Nakuru in the third round in the light-welterweight division.
The two notable KO victories catapulted Wandera to instance fame.
He became not only the darling of Nakuru fans but the face of boxing in this fourth largest city in Kenya.
Wandera is now under the tutelage of experienced Star-3 national team head coach Musa Benjamin, a graduate of the famed IBA World Boxing Academy in Kazakhstan.
“I’m enjoying training here a lot,” says Wandera cheerfully, “It’s more advanced than in Nakuru where sometimes I trained alone ”
Musa speaks highly of Wandera as a disciplined and hard working boxer but he has had to take him back to class.
Says Musa:”His foundation wasn’t solid, poor basics have hindered his progress but he’s always willing to learn making it easier to right the wrongs.
“We’re working on his defense to complement his aggression and speed. How to use his lighter punches to set up for the big punches. Timing, precision and good fight distance control will make him more lethal.
“Despite his lack of experience, we expect top performance from the pressure fighter that he is. He will keep stepping forward throwing punches in bunches, there’s a medal in sight from Wandera.
“He’s young and strong with a great attitude and is capable of dominating for a while.”
Well, the onus is now on Wandera to prove himself in the Africa Zone 3 Championships. A scintillating show will be the perfect stepping stone to fortune and fame for Wandera who is gradually settling down to the fast pace of life in Nairobi.
