UGÀNDAN PROMOTER EXPLAINS WHY HE’S RELUCTANT TO INCLUDE KENYAN BOXERS IN HIS CARD
▪️My priority is not on attendance but building boxers’ records, says Steve Sembuya of 12 Sports Rounds Promotion.
Ugandan professional boxing promoter Steve Sembuya has explained why he’s at the moment reluctant to include Kenyan boxers in his May 24 card at Nairobi’s Charter Hall.
Sembuya has been licensed by the Kenya Professional Boxing Commission (KPBC) to do business in Kenya after falling out with the government and boxing authorities in Uganda whom he accused of sabotage.
“Not that I don’t want to include boxers from Kenya, I’m happy to promote my fights here and very grateful to KPBC but the problem with some Kenyan boxers is that they want a big purse instead of focusing on building their record,” Sembuya told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview from the US where he is based.
“Right now my major focus is on the four boxers I have in my stable I want to build their records. I’m not focusing much on attendance but building boxers’ records, this is important for their marketability and it’s my business model.”
Sembuya went on narrating: “This is my first promotion in Kenya, I will definitely give the deserving Kenyan boxers their chance provided they don’t put money first before their records, I pay some of my boxers less money than their opponents but it’s strategic because they’ll benefit later with a better record and more fights.”
Sembuya gave an example of Henry Kasujja who only started boxing as a pro in 2022 but now has two stars and a half like Kenya’s Rayton Okwiri, the best placed Kenyan who joined the paid ranks in 2017.
“Right now there’s no Kenyan with three stars but in Uganda we have Suleiman Segawa with three and a half stars and David Ssemuju having three stars,” said Sembuya.
Contacted, Kenyan matchmaker, Julius Odhiambo, said while he cannot dispute some of Sembuya’s sentiments, he said he has never been contacted by the Ugandan promoter to provide Kenyan boxers.
“It’s not all the Kenyan boxers asking for big money, maybe just one or two but most of them understand the importance of building their records,” said Odhiambo who welcomed Sembuya in Kenya but advised him to deal with the right people.
“We are happy to have Sembuya in Kenya, we want fights here but he should deal with me on matchmaking where Kenyan boxers are involved. It’s not too late I can talk with Sembuya we have Kenyan boxers in his card who’ll not ask him for unreasonable purse because they also know promoters have no sponsors and therefore it’s impossible to be paid well.”
In the May 24 main fight, Uganda’s Henry Kasujja will take on Malawi’s Charles Misanjo in a 10-round non-title fight.
There’s no opponent yet for Kenya’s Denzel Onyango, the only Kenyan boxer appearing in Sembuya’s May 24 card in Nairobi.
