Off-ring action dominate season of little punches
Boxing lovers witnessed a flurry of activities in and off the ring in a year peppered with ups and lows.
But, action in the last quarter of the year defined a season that saw the amateur pugilists fail to impress at the African Games, Fatuma Zarika’s loss in Mexico and the off-the-ring activities polemics defined the year that was for the local boxing fraternity.
The Kenya Professional Boxing Commission (KPBC) and Boxing Association of Kenya (BAK) had elections this year and it was not without controversy.
Former BAK boss John Kameta called the June polls a farce because it never met the threshold but the Sports Registrar acknowledged the new office led by President Anthony ‘Jamal’ Ombok and secretary David Munuhe.
The previous administration met the flak of most members who felt they were not fully represented in the Amateur boxing and accusations of abuse of office flew around in a hard fought matter in the Sports Disputes Tribunal.
On the semi-professional front, KPBC on its part had smooth elections in September with former Patron and Makadara MP Reuben Ndolo reclaiming his seat following the end of tenure for Hillary Alila.
However, the secretary’s slot of Franklin Imbenzi drew murmurs as the youthful official took over unopposed as there were cries of favouritism and lack of transparency in the nomination exercise.
All the same the matter was duly settled and the new office got down to work helping to organise at least two highlight events before close of the year.
It was a difficult phase considering big sponsors like SportPesa pulled out of operations in Kenya thus money concerns to boxers being apparent.
Promoters had to dig deep to finance events but sometimes attendance numbers were worrisome considering the last big show in Nairobi was in September 2018 when Zarika and Mexican Yamileth Mercado fought in a World Boxing Commission title bout at Kenyatta International Convention Centre-COMESA Grounds.
Splinter group
In the amateur ranks, the league had its fair share of struggles aside from the politics that had rocked the Federation earlier.
SportPesa once again was in the news after pulling out the annual Sh9 million sponsorship to run league operations. Boxers suffered and clubs had to dig deep in a bid to honour fixtures.
It did not help matters that a splinter group opposed to the main office started their own league with recruited members which nearly paralysed operations of amateur boxing in the country and earned a warning from governing body AIBA.
On the positive side though, there was heavy competition which saw non-forces sides go big in bouts and threaten the established order in the seven legs.
However for the umpteenth time, Kenya Police took the honours and close challenge by regular rivals Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
