Commonwealth Games: Sigh of relief for Kenya as boxer Okaka romps into quarter-finals

Kenya’s Robert Okaka (right) in a past action against Democratic Republic of Congo’s Anauel Ngamissengue Mpi. [AFP]

National light heavyweight champion Robert Okaka overcame Yusuf Changalawe of Tanzania to secure Kenya’s first victory in boxing at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Okaka defeated Changalawe on a unanimous points’ decision in the round of 16 on Monday night.

As a result, Okaka automatically cruised into the quarter-finals in the fight for top honours.

And it must have been a big relief for head coach Musa Benjamin following the earlier two losses by Kenyan fighters.

The former Africa Zone Three light heavyweight champion defeated Changalawe 5-0 in the one-sided match at SEC Centre, Scottish Event Campus, in Glasgow.

Okaka impressed all five judges on duty that night to score 30-27, 30-27, 30-25, 30-27 and 30-27 against the Tanzanian champion.

On his way to face Okaka in the Round of 32, Changalawe had outpointed David Akintola of Nigeria.

That’s the second time that Okaka, who boxes for Kenya Open champions Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), has come out to the rescue of ‘The Hit Squad’ at a time their graph was heading south.

Before he took a flight to Scotland, Okaka said: “We are again going for bigger things. We only want to win medals, nothing more.”

He had predicted he would not disappoint in Glasgow.

“I’m going there (Glasgow) to win matches,” he had said.

The first time Okaka shone was in the World Boxing Championships in Dubai last year when he equally cruised into quarter-finals to qualify for the lucrative financial bracket of the tournament after all other boxers had earlier exited.

However, Okaka lost to Bizhamov Dzhambulat of Russia to become the first Kenyan boxer in 47 years to romp into medal bracket of the global championships after Steve Muchoki won a gold medal in flyweight at the 1978 World Boxing Championships in Belgrade, in the then Yugoslavia.

And as the big relief came to the Kenyan camp, Mogunde kissed good bye to the tournament after he was beaten by Multi-European medal champion Sony Kerr of Scotland on unanimous points’ (3-0) decision.

It was a big disappointment for Mogunde, who boxes for record Kenyan league champions Kenya Police, who earlier had aimed to use the event to prepare for the global championships this year.

After Mogunde’s loss, other light middleweight matches that followed saw Marion Tong of Samoa earn his victory on a Referee Stop Contest (RSC) rule against Tavita Kaoma of Kiribati, an Island nation in the Central Pacific Ocean.

On the same weight (light middle), Carl Hield of Bahamas defeated Osward Talaka of The Solomon Islands on a split points’ decision of 3-1.

The other Kenyan fighter who opened the big games with a loss was national bantamweight (54kg) champion Amina Martha last Friday.

Martha was beaten by the 2020 European Games middleweight (75kg) champion Lauren Mackie of England on a unanimous points’ (5-0) decision on Friday last week in the Round of 32 in the bantamweight (54kg).