Ugandans give Nakuru boxers a hiding in international friendly tourney

Light Fly Weight's Tonny Muoki (left) of Kangemi Boxing club and Fredrick Kamau of Thailand Boxing Club during Nairobi 5th League at New Trade Market, Githurai on Dec 14, 2024.[File, Standard]

Nakuru boxers were too weak for Ugandans in an international friendly tournament at Madison Square Garden in Nakuru City on Friday night.

The Ugandans, who looked more experienced than their opponents, won through a referee stop contest (RSC) in most of their matches.

At the end of the day, Uganda Cobs amassed 26 points to lift the inaugural Carlos Muthee Mwangi Memorial Cup in honour of the departed former Nakuru ABC coach Carlos Muthee Mwangi.

Hosts Nakuru ABC were runners-up with 15 points ahead of Molo, who posted three points.

In all 16 bouts, the Ugandans won all of them save for the one involving Nakuru's Moses Joseph, who taught Ugandan minimumweight boxer Ashraf Dimirire to secure a 2-1 victory.

"I gave a good account of myself in all three rounds. It was equally a tough match, but I was ready for it after several losses by my teammates," Joseph told Standard Sports.

Nakuru ABC head coach Lemid Thiong'o said, despite the loss, the match had given his boys some good exposure required to promote his standards to the next level.

"This was part of how we want to revamp this team as we give them exposures one after the other to build these youngsters for a better tomorrow," explained Thiong'o.

He said the losses have come at the right time, which was part of the build-up ahead of the league championships set for the city on May 14-16.

Out of their 16 bouts, Uganda won six on RSC, explaining how inexperienced Nakuru boxers were.

Nakuru boxers who were beaten on RSC were bantamweight Felix Kuria, featherweight David Karanja, welterweight James Kiragu, middleweight Evans Bosire, lightweight Winnie Shishali, and super heavyweight Peter Njima.

Kuria, Karanja, Kiragu, and Shishali were all beaten in the third round by the Ugandan quartet of Moses Kimera, Yusuf Bin Abdalla, Ronnie Mukisa, and Brenda Muduwa, respectively.

On their part, Bosire was beaten by Ashiraf Mpanga in the second round, while Njima suffered at the hands of Jonathan Galiwango in the first round.

In other matches, James Mokua of Molo was beaten on points by Daniel Ssekibanda of Uganda on points in the lightweight division.

Amos Korir of Molo was also beaten 3-0 by Dennis Muleme of Uganda in the light welterweight division.