NENEZ BOXING ARCHIVE: Peter Kang’ethe fare thee well one of Kenya’s top light-flyweights of the 70s

NENEZ BOXING ARCHIVE: Peter Kang’ethe fare thee well one of Kenya’s top light-flyweights of the 70s

The late Peter Kangethe, who passed on three weeks ago, was buried on Thursday (January 16) this week.

I first met Kangethe in 1971 when Kenya’s team was training at the Prisons Gym opposite Wilson Airport. They were preparing for a return match with Nigeria in December that same year.

He was a friendly boxer keen on sharing his knowledge with us youngsters then.

That was when Kangethe was at his peak.

He shocked his more experienced teammates and coach Sammy Ouma when he outpointed Nigeria’s highly regarded Saliu Ishola in the opening light-flyweight bout of an international friendly match won 7-4 by the Nigerians in Lagos in November, 1971.

In addition to Kangethe, other three Kenyan winners were top internationals, bantamweight Sammy Mbogwa, light-middleweight David Attan and light-heavyweight Steve Thega who scored a shocking points victory over 1972 Olympics bronze medallist Isaac Ikhuoria.

Big-talking Nigerians landed in Kenya with their usual noise making it known to the hosts they would hammer them proper in the return match under their coach Hogan “Kid” Bassey, a former world champion in pro boxing.

However, Kangethe was not cowed by the bullish Nigerians.

“Hawa tutachapa, walitulalia huko kwao na hiyo joto pia ilituweza (we will beat these Nigerians they robbed us at home and the humidity was too much for us),” Kangethe told us in our chit chat with among other junior buddies, Napunyi Oduori and Kamau Wanyoike after watching them train under coach Sammy Ouma at Prisons Gym.

He lived up to his promise when the Kenyans whipped Nigeria 9-2 bouts in a packed City Hall in this Jamhuri Day match in December, 1971.

Kangethe set the Kenyans on the winning trail, putting up a classic show to beat Saliu Ishola again in the light-flyweight berth. He did not only defeat Ishola but rightly named the Best Boxer of the night in this one-sided match I watched from the City Hall balcony with my late dad, a staunch boxing fan.

Among other winners included flyweight Peter Munyogi, bantamweight Sammy Mbogwa, light-welterweight John Olulu, welterweight Dick “Tiger” Murunga, light-middleweight David Attan and light-heavyweight Steve Thega.

The Kenyans emerged victorious with an aggregate of 13-9 bouts (35-31 points).

It was a total massacre as the Nigerians returned home quietly to lick their wounds in Lagos.

Kangethe made his international debut in 1970 in Kampala when he replaced an overweight Isaac Maina at flyweight during the first leg of the Millington Drake Trophy, an annual two-leg contest which was always fiercely fought with the Ugandans then having an edge over Kenya.

Pitted against Olympic bronze medallist, Leo Rwabogo, Kangethe proved to be no match for the tough Ugandan who stopped him in the second round at flyweight as the Ugandans hit the Kenyans 8-3 bouts. The most shocking defeat being that one of legendary featherweight Philip Waruinge who was stopped in the third round round by his rival Deo Musoke. He had defeated the Ugandan hands down in the 1970 Commonwealth Games final in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Waruinge, who avenged the defeat by Musoke easily beating him in the return match in Nairobi, was later to open up to me in our chit chat in Nakuru. He said he took matters too easy irrigating his throat – before the fight – with few tots of Waragi, Uganda’s famous drink which took its toll in the ring on the illustrious Kenyan boxer.

Kangethe’s next call up to the national team was in November, 1970, when the Kenyan boxers were preparing for the first ever visit to East Africa by the Soviet Union team.

He was picked in the light-flyweight division together with Mombasa-based Haraka Wanjala whom the selectors eventually preferred to Kangethe because he proved to be sharper than him during training at Kenyatta University (then Kenyatta College).

Wanjala lost his debut bout for the national team, beaten 7-4 bouts by the visitors at City Hall.

The following year (1971), Kangethe maintained his steady rise, scoring a major upset points victory over the 1968 Africa Championships silver medallist Lawrence Kariuki during an inter-club match between Prisons – the giants of Kenya boxing at the time – and Police in early 1971 at the City Stadium.

He dominated Kariuki throughout the three rounds to the amazement of coach Peter Mwarangu.

Kangethe’s victory was however not enough to stop the mighty Prisons from whipping Police 8-2 at the City Stadium. Heavyweight E.Wanjala was the other Police team winner.

Prisons’ eight winners were flyweight Peter Manene, bantamweight Sammy Mbogwa, featherweight John Nderu, light-welterweight Stephen Baraza, welterweight Ali Said aka Ali Baba, George Ambuga aka Labour, middleweight Stephen “Kimbo” Matiani and light-heavyweight Steve Thega.

Kangethe maintained his superb performance, outpointing the more experienced Sammy Mwangangi when Police demolished Railways Starehe 19-13 points in an inter-club match at Kaloleni Social Hall attended by chief guest Bernard Hinga, the Police Commissioner, who presented the winners trophy to Police captain Alex Omwomo aka Wachawe.

For his impressive victory over Mwangangi, Kangethe was named the Best Boxer of the evening.

He again beat Sammy Mwangangi of Railways Starehe in an inter-club match. Kangethe was representing his employer, General Service Unit (GSU) at the Police Pavilion.

Kangethe was now all set for the inaugural East African Championships in May, 1971, at the Nairobi City Hall. The participants were from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia.

He was among the boxers who assembled at Railways Training Institute to prepare for the East African tournament. Also, in the squad was the new kid on the block St Teresa’s schoolboy Dick Felix, a product of prominent coach Eddie “Papa” Musi. The coach was a South African immigrant who was handling Nairobi City Council club training at the social hall in Kariobangi Estate nicknamed Bangladesh. Together with clubmate Felix Maina they took Kenya’s boxing fraternity by storm. Dick Felix won the novices and intermediate flyweight titles and Maina clinched the intermediate light-flyweight title at Kaloleni Social Hall. Kisumu boy Zack Amalemba then with Prisons also caught the selector’s eyes when he won the intermediate heavyweight title. Amalemba and Dick Felix earned their first first call ups to the national team preparing for the East African Championships.

So impressive was Felix the southpaw during training sessions that coach Sammy Ouma and trainer Mwangi Mugo decided he had to slash weight and move down to light-flyweight to battle it out with Haraka Wanjala. Kangethe moved up to flyweight.

Mini-trials for the regional tournament in a few weight divisions were held at Prisons Gym. Felix was pitted against Wanjala in the light-flyweight berth while Kangethe fought long-serving Prisons international and a product of Nakuru ABC, Peter Manene who had been recalled to the national team. As expected, Felix and Manene had the last laugh punching their way to the final team for the regional tournament.

Ring analysts felt Kangethe should have been left to vie for a place in the team in his usual light-flyweight class. They deduced he had brighter prospects of defeating Wanjala in the trials. They also thought Felix should have remained at flyweight where he was more comfortable.

Making his international debut, Felix was eliminated by Uganda’s newcomer John Byaruhanga in his first fight while Manene went down to James Odwori – a Kenyan then boxing for Uganda – in the semi-finals of the regional tournament.

Later in the year, Kangethe earned another chance to represent the national team in the Lagos tour after defeating among others Haraka Wanjala at the Police Pavillion trials in Nairobi South C. Owing to a tight schedule in school, Dick Felix was unavailable for the Lagos trials.

Besides Kangethe, other light-flyweights who had sprung up by then included Nakuru’s 1970 novices champion John Nganga aka “Fyatuka”, Hassan Mohamed also from Nakuru and GSU’s Peter Ndirangu who deposed Kangethe towards the end of 1972 in the Kenya Open at Pumwani Social Hall. He outpointed Kangethe in the finals, earning a place in the 1973 African Games national team in Lagos, Nigeria.

Kangethe’s defeat by Ndirangu was the beginning of the end in his short spell with the national team.

In the ring, Kangethe was quite fast with good footwork but at times threw many unnecessary punches that hardly landed on target. Ndirangu was slow, boxed flatfoot but a hard hitter. Hassan, who was at Prisons together with Nganga, was tall with an effective jab which he used well to keep his shorter opponents at bay.

Gradually, Hassan proved to be better than Ndirangu, making his debut in 1973 in the first leg match of the Urafiki Cup (formerly Millington Drake Trophy) against Uganda in Kampala. He lost to fellow newcomer Baker Muwanga. In the return match, Hassan was replaced by the latest sensation Steve Muchoki who swept them all like a tornado, earning his first call up to the national team in the return leg Urafiki Cup match against Uganda at City Hall in November, 1973.

Muchoki put up a splendid performance to outpoint Baker Muwanga. A product of Railways Starehe in Muthurwa Estate nicknamed Dallas. Muchoki then ruled the light-flyweight division for seven years, remaining unbeaten locally until he turned pro in 1979 with a world title under his belt.
Muchoki was as cunning as a rabbit in the ring very difficult to hit, master at in-fighting, accurate puncher with lightning speed and wonderful footwork spiced with clever side-steps which at times left some of his opponents punching the ropes.

Kangethe went on representing GSU, losing to Muchoki in the 1978 Kenya Open finals at Nakuru’s Madison Square Gardens. He later founded ICRAF Boxing Club which featured in the second division of the national league, and when pro boxing was introduced in 1983 he also played a pivotal role as a referee/judge until his demise.