Police arrest KDF officers: Former national champs reclaim title in style in final leg

boxing premier league final leg semi finals Boniface Mogunde (in blue) of Police trade punches with Jacob Kimathi (in red) of Prisons in their welter weight category during the Boxing Association of Kenya league 5th leg at Uwanja wa Mbuzi in Kongowea within Mombasa County, November 11, 2017. Mogunde won the bout. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

Police arrest KDF officers: Former national champs reclaim title in style in final leg

Former champions Kenya Police lived up to their fans' expectations as they destroyed holders Kenya Defence Force (KDF) to reclaim the national boxing league title.

It was on Saturday night at the Uwanja Wa Mbuzi Stadium in Kongowea, Mombasa, where KDF relinquished the title.

It was a tight affair with the winner being decided at the 11th hour as Police were declared new champions with 103 points against KDF’s 102.

Kenya Prisons finished third with 27 points, while Coast combined finished fourth with 14 points.

KDF head coach Sammy Magima and the entire technical bench seemed not to be happy with the judges' decision though.

“We gave good account of ourselves but the judges had the final say,” said Magima.

His Police counterpart George Foreman Onyango conceded that he faced strong opposition from his KDF opponents.

“We have been facing strong opposition in the major weight bouts and my focus is to recruit good boxers to fit in the major bouts ahead of next season,” said Onyango.

In individual bouts, Shaffi Bakari of Kenya Police defeated Prison’s Harrison Mathuku 3-0 in lightfly, while Brian Agina (Coast) defeated Morris Ochieng (Police) 3-0 in fly.

In other bouts, Super heavyweight David Njuguna (Police) retired in the first round as heavy punches from KDF’s Frederick Ramogi came his way.

Meanwhile, Russian boxer Artur Beterbiev claimed his first world title belt on Saturday night with a 12th round knockout of Enrico Koelling in a battle for the vacant IBF light heavyweight crown.

The undefeated Beterbiev recorded his 12th straight knockout but he had to go past seven rounds for the first time in his career to get the 175-pound belt.

The 32-year-old Beterbiev systematically dismantled underdog Koelling over 12 rounds, finishing him off with a right hook to the head with 27 seconds left in front of a crowd of 13,800 at the Fresno State University arena.

He knocked Koelling down for the first time in the fight earlier in the round but the 27-year-old German was able to continue after an eight count from the referee.

Beterbiev improved to a career record of 12-0 with 12 knockouts after just his second pro fight outside of Canada, where he trains.

Beterbiev had over 300 fights in an impressive amateur career that included two victories over former light heavyweight champ Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev.

As a pro, Beterbiev had only been past four rounds once when he was pushed to the seventh round by Alexander Johnson in 2015.

Koelling landed very few good punches in the one-sided fight but he can find solace in becoming the first fighter to survive into the 12th round with Beterbiev who some call the best pure puncher in boxing today.

With his first world title in hand, there are some who now feel the two-time Russian Olympian is on the verge of finally fulfilling the lofty expectations he had coming out of the amateur ranks. [Additional reporting by AFP]