Future Boxing Championships offer Kenyan boxers lessons

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. [Jonah Onyango, Standard] In the past, Kenyan teams were used to featuring in international invitational competitions before heading for official global assignments where they performed beyond expectations. These events exposed and gave boxers adequate time to prepare before crucial assignments, which is why federation officials lobbied for them. They included the annual King's Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, several tournaments in Europe and several regional assignments like the Brunna Urafiki Championships between Kenya and Uganda, among others. This year, Kenyan boxing teams (both male and female) are faced with a tight and congested international calendar. Like other years, 2026 is an extra-ordinary, with numerous international assignments all around the globe. These assignments are under the auspices of the International Boxing Association (IBA) and World Boxing (WB) in their annual global calendars. The WB's inaugural international assignment is Future's Boxing Championships to be hosted in Bangkok, Thailand, mid next month, a development that rekindles hope and the vast Kenya's formidable performance and experience of yesteryears, which was injected by her retired Kenyan legends. Being an event organised by a different global body, Nakuru ABC assistant coach Moses Noor Saidi, it could inspire boxers in so many ways, as a change is always good as a rest. Saidi described WB events as semi professional event. "Coming from a different body that's hosting a tournament of this magnitude for the first time, we must expect bigger things in more years to come," he said. Saidi said events by WB, in addition to those of IBA, are aimed at giving boxers maximum opportunities to exploit their talents by fighting different opponents from different countries in different venues all around the globe annually. "This development has come at the right time when both IBA and WB are injecting more financial prizes that are expected to inspire boxers in the fight for top honours," Saidi told Nairobian Sports. He confirmed that WB are semi-professional competition compared to IBA's. National head coach Musa Benjamin confirmed that they'll send a team to the event. "We are sending a team to Thailand, which is a boost to our boxers at a time when we have a congested calendar this season. We'll see how to navigate through it," he said. However, Benjamin was noncommittal on the number of boxers travelling to the Asian country, saying all these would depend on the financial ability of the government. "The number of boxers heading for the Thailand trip would depend on the availability of funds from the government," said the coach. Former boxer Chrispino Chikano Ochieng' said such events are good for upcoming young talents who are venturing into boxing at a time when the sporting discipline is very lucrative. "Most boxers come from the slums, and with the injection of cash prizes into the game by the two bodies, it encourages more players to join the sport," he said. Last week, Ochieng spoke on a wide range of factors that have seen many parents and teachers unable to embrace boxing as a good sporting discipline. Parents and teachers term it a dangerous sporting discipline, and it's the reason it cannot be included in the schools' sporting curriculum. While dismissing this notion, Ochieng, who's a lecturer in the Department of Architecture at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Technology (JKUAT), said, "This is a physical sport just like any other. There's no cause for alarm when one ventures into boxing". Other physical sporting disciplines include rugby, karate, tae-kwon-do and kickboxing.

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