BOXING: Peter Mungai punches his way to APB Championships

Kenya's Peter Mungai Warui, left, fights China's Bin LV during a men's light flyweight 49-kg preliminary boxing match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

National light flyweight champion Peter Mungai of Kenya Police has been promoted to Amateur Professional Boxing Championships by the global governing boxing body, AIBA.

Mungai is the the fourth Kenyan boxer to be promoted. The others are bantamweight Benson Gicharu (Kenya Police), welterweight Rayton Okwiri (Kenya Prisons) and middleweight Nickson Abaka (Kenya Defence Forces).

Mungai was promoted to the APB ranks following his participation at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio. All boxers who feature in Olympics earn automatic promotion to the APB Championships.

At the Rio Games, Mungai was eliminated in the quarterfinals. The 36-six-year old earned his ticket to the Olympics after South African light flyweight champion Bandla Sibusiso withdrew from the games without an official explanation from South Africa Boxing Federation (SABF).

While confirming the new development, Boxing Association of Kenya treasurer George ‘Foreman’ Onyango said Mungai’s promotion paves way for other upcoming players to follow in his footsteps.

“His promotion gives other young players to climb up the ladder,” he said.

Mungai, who was a regular boxer for the Kenya Police team popularly known as ‘Chafua Chafua’, has been replaced by Shaffi Bakari.

Onyango, who is also the Kenya Police head coach, described Bakari as an avid player, who is slowly fitting into the shoes of Mungai.

“He (Mungai) will now have to train harder for him to fit into the standards of APB Championships. It will be tougher and requires a lot of endurance for a player to cope and become victorious.”

In APB fights, boxers do between eight to 10 rounds, while in amateur fights, there are only three rounds.

While confirming the new development, BAK Vice President Albert Matito cautioned Mungai that the task ahead of him is tough and he should start early training.

Meanwhile, Onyango said Abaka may be dropped from the APB Championships due to his poor performance last season.

Other than his dismal performance at the APB ranks last season, Abaka was also the only boxer in the paid ranks, who failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

Matito said the world governing boxing body, AIBA, will decide on Abaka’s fate after serious evaluation of middleweight players, who featured in the Rio Olympics. His retention will depend on the prowess of the AIBA’s Rio Olympics list.

Abaka finished seventh out of eight boxers in the middleweight category.