Will Alila succeed where others have failed?

Kenya Professional Boxing chairman Hillary Ochieng Alila

NAIROBI: Kenya Professional Boxing, which has been for decades run down due to poor management and divergent interests, could have found a new lease of life with the election of Hillary Ochieng Alila as its chairman.

For years, the sport has been forced to contend with poor management. Sports personalities, who take part in the sport have also had to live a pathetic life characterized with sorry state of affairs.

The most recent case being Conjestina Achieng’s predicament, which was published by Game Yetu a week ago.

Before Conjestina, there was boxer Robert Wangila Napunyi, who won gold medal at the 1988 summer Olympic Games, and remains to date as the only Kenyan Olympic Gold medal winner and the only boxer from Sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa to have won a Olympic gold.

Anthony Napunyi (Felterweight), Modesty Napunyi (Featherweight), Joshua ‘Poison’ Muya Onyango (Welterweight), David Nganga Kamau (Lightweight), Joseph Akhasamba are some of the former renowned boxers, who have sad tales to tell about their professional boxing career.

Upon election, the Kenya Professional Boxing Commission (KPBC) stayed for about two weeks then held a stake-holders meeting at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi in a meeting attended by Alila (pictured left) and Makadara MP Benson Kangara. KPBC was founded in 1983 and is affiliated to the Kenya National Sports Council (KNSC).

During the meeting, Alila said time had come to ring changes in the sport and promised to be part of that long-overdue change.

“As indented in our strategic plan, we will have engagements with both national and County governments to share ideas and views for all stakeholders involved, associated or affected or impacted by professional boxing in Kenya.”

“There have been in the past similar conventions and conferences initiated to deliberate on the same topic. We are also mindful of several interventions in the past that were unfortunately characterized by lack of theoretical clarity, sense of purpose and vision for the success and sustenance of boxing in our country,” he added.

KPBC said they will engage county governments to tap talent from the counties.

“The aim of this workshop is to deliberate on effective and efficient good practices that will improve the administration, governance and regulation of professional boxing,” the chairman added.

“I would like to take this opportunity to inform all Kenyans and our international partners that the challenges facing boxing in Kenya today will not be resolved overnight and through stopgap measures. We are working on a comprehensive strategic plan that takes into account immediate, short term and long-term interventions and implementation strategies,” he added.

Alila promised to ensure the game of boxing is professionalized so that boxers can get good remunerations and their affairs run in a professional manner.

On his part, Kangara said he was saddened by the state of boxing in the country and pointed out Conjestina Achieng’s state, which was published by both Game Yetu and Nairobian.

The Makadara MP said the government should consider supporting the game of boxing and admitted the sport was facing challenges.