Kenyans were shocked with an easy victory that showboating Tanzania boxer Karim 'Mtu Kazi' Mandonga picked against seasoned Kenyan pugilist Daniel Wanyonyi at the KICC Ball Room in Nairobi Sunday morning.
Those who had thronged the boxing hall watched in awe, with hands on their heads, as spirited Mandonga 'rain soaked' Wanyonyi with a flurry of punches as he commanded the 10-round Super middleweight non-title fight like a colossus.
Mandonga took the fight to hapless Wanyonyi, descending on the latter with his now famous Sugunyo jabs, he says, from Ukraine that left the Kenyan clutching on thin air.
Wanyonyi had nowhere to hide as Mandonga turned him into a punching bag in the opening five rounds.
A confident Mandoga controlled the tempo of the encounter as a confused Wanyonyi shifted from one corner of the ring to another for safety.
The motor-mouth Tanzanian was finally declared winner of the one-sided bout on Technical Knock Out in the fifth round after Wanyonyi's corner refused to answer the bell for the sixth.
Despite Okwiri's victory, Ndaro who hails from Arusha gave a good account of himself in the ring. Both sides had a balance of power as they slugged it off in the fully packed hall.
The victory took Okwiri's record to 10 fights including eight wins (6KOs), a draw and a loss.
"We are glad about the return of boxing to Kenya, we are happy that Kenyans responded positively to these games after such a long time.
"Expect many explosive matches in the months to come as we are committed to supporting boxing and other sports in the country," Betnare representative Lydia Njeri, whose organisation supported the bouts, told Standard Sports.