Boxer Okwiri crosses over to paid ranks

Kenya’s golden boy, welter-weight Rayton Okwiri of Kenya Prisons Boxing Club during their last spuring in preparation for the International Boxing Association, IBA, pro-boxing at Pamwani Social Hall in Nairobi on Thursday, January 15th, Photo/Jonah Onyango.

Kenya’s Amateur Professional Boxer Rayton Okwiri has fully turned professional days after he quit the Amateur Professional Boxing (APB) Championships.

Okwiri has been taking part in the Amateur Professional Boxing (APB) Championships for the past two years.

His first fight will be against Tanzanian Iddi Pialari in Nairobi on February 4.

The fight has been organised by Kenya Professional Boxing Commission (KPBC) and it will be the first fight for Okwiri, who used to play for Kenya Prisons Boxing Club as an amateur player before joining the APB Championships.

Okwiri confirmed that he is ready to face the Tanzanian and for the past few weeks, he has been training under the KPBC tactician Julius Odhiambo.

His new found home allows him to face boxers from United Kingdom, Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania and Ghana.

Okwiri was ranked fourth in the welterweight by the world boxing governing body, AIBA, in the APB Championships. In the paid ranks, Okwiri will now fight in the super welterweight against Pialari.

“I have crossed over to the paid ranks with an aim of excelling there and hope to leave just as at the APB Championships,” said Okwiri.

Okwiri said that Boxing Association of Kenya (BAK) was aware of his new move, a development BAK Vice President Albert Matito said the boxer had not officially communicated to them.

“We have not received an official communication from KPBC or Okwiri on the new development, but we cannot stand in his way if he (Okwiri) has made a decision. We wish him well in his new endeavour,” said Matito.

The boxer told Feverpitch that after soul-searching, he believes he has made the right move by crossing over to the paid ranks in a career he revealed was more lucrative than playing in the APB Championships.

“Crossing over to the paid ranks is more lucrative than participating in the APB Championships although the latter has also shaped my career after moving away from amateur boxing,” said Okwiri.