Steady the boxing ship – Daily Nation

The country witnessed yet another exciting boxing extravaganza on Saturday night at Charter Hall, Nairobi, where Olympian Rayton “Boom Boom” Okwiri won the vacant Africa Boxing Union (ABU) middleweight title.

Okwiri knocked out Tanzania’s Hussein Itaba during the Main Events Promotions that also had World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver female super lightweight champion Judy Waguthii and national heavyweight champion Morris Okola win by knockouts.

The huge turnout was a clear manifestation of the sport’s popularity in the country. It was a clear indication that Kenya can, once again, host major events with good organisation, strong leadership at the Kenya Professional Boxing Commission (KPBC) and support from sponsors.

The professional boxing scene used to be vibrant during the tenures of Eric Hannah, and later Reuben Ndolo, before leadership wrangles and lack of planning caused instability. It’s now over a decade since country witnessed national title bouts. The few promotions have focused on non-title bouts at major title bouts — for instance, during Okwiri’s title bout and twice when Fatuma “Iron Fist” Zarika defended her WBC World Super Bantamweight title in Nairobi.

There has been a great lull at KPBC and we hope things will change after the elections. More so, the current leadership wrangles at the Boxing Association of Kenya are a big discouragement.

A vibrant professional level highly depends on firm foundation at the amateur level. The long-overdue BAK elections must be held but through right procedures so as to avoid unnecessary sanctions from the world governing body.