The fights our fathers never prepare us for
Robba’s last big fight was against the sins of his parents.
Gone but not forgotten. That is Robert “Kid” Wangila. The first African boxer, outside of South Africa, to win an Olympics gold medal.
Legend. That is Kid, as Wangila was known in the US when, as it is said in pro boxing slang, he went bare-chested.
In my ‘hood’, Jericho Estate, we called him Robba or Champez. He was a truck driver, working for then Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), whose boxing team he was a member of, as well as flying the national flag with the legendary Hit Squad; as Kenya’s national boxing team was known.
Robba’s last big fight was not in 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, when he beat knocked out Laurent Boudouani of France to win the welterweight gold medal. Neither was it his first professional fight. And nope, Robba’s last big fight was not his last bout in 1994 against David Gonzales in Las Vegas. Robba died from the injuries he sustained in that fight.
Here’s a little history lesson. Robba did not know his biological father. Him and his siblings were brought up by their single mother, who struggled to provide for them. When Robba’s boxing prowess got him a job at KBL, he took some load off his mother’s back.
Olympic boxing gold
And then Robba hit gold. Olympic boxing gold. That’s when two men appeared out of the woodwork, each claiming to be Robba’s biological father, and each demanding a piece of the pie. Which led straight to Robba’s last big fight.
Robba’s last big fight – which lasted more than all the boxing rounds he ever fought in his amateur and pro bouts, combined – was the fight against identity crisis. This fight was wholly a psychological one. It is a fight many men silently go through.
It’s a fight our fathers never prepared us for and, as men, it is a fight our mothers lack the psychological wiring to prepare us for. Because, in some issues, only a man can sharpen a little man.
Robba was a hard-hitting pugilist. He took the fight to his opponents. But, in his last big fight – as he and the Olympic team arrived home – he hid himself in the airport’s bathroom, as two fathers came to meet him. This psychological fight was too much for his calloused fists, which had dug holes into many a punching bag in our social hall in Jericho Estate.
Robba’s last big fight was not against haymakers, but against demons that were not of his making. These are demons that, unfortunately, some men inherit from their parents. They are demons a man never asked for, yet they come demanding for his mind and hard-earned money.
Greedy relatives
Damned. That’s what Champez was. Heck, make that double-damned. As someone once wise-cracked; “where there’s a will, there are greedy relatives”. This was a fight for another man’s wealth. And this was a fight Champez was not prepared for. It is a fight no Champez is ever prepared for.
Some of us go through this fight. Black tax. That’s what it’s called. We are only good sons and brothers, as long as we bring home the bacon. Nobody cares about the life-threatening wounds we get while hunting the hog. Nobody cares about our battle scars, but our bread and butter.
Robba’s last big fight was against the sins of his parents. As men, some of us are – knowingly or unknowingly - in lifelong duels against our parents’ sins. If you know what you’re up against, you at least stand a shot of coming up trumps. But if you don’t, man, your life can be a terrible mess.
And what’s worse is a parent knowing what’s eating you up, yet they refuse to tell a man the truth. I get it. Some truths are disconcerting. But a man will only be free if they know the truth.
