Kenya boxing team member Sheila Auma is christened “Last Born”. However, at 18, and the youngest in the team, she won’t let that tag dictate her performance at the Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) Zone III Championships starting on Monday at the Moi International Sports Centre (MISC), Indoor Arena.
Auma, who was brought up at the sprawling Soweto slums in Kibera, Nairobi, is among 12 boxers set for international debuts in the five-day championship that is featuring 123 fighters drawn from nine countries.
Auma’s dream is crystal clear as she takes the ring today (Monday) in the only women’s bantamweight quarter-final bout against Ethiopia’s Roman Asefa Abate.
Should Auma clear the first hurdle, she will set up a semi-final clash with her role model and mentor, the African Games bronze medallist, Amina Martha
“I want to box at the highest level. I want to use boxing as an enabler to a good life,” said Auma, who only took up the game in April last year after ditching football, table tennis and handball.
“I want to give my parents and siblings a good life. I am certain that boxing will enable that and that journey starts tomorrow,” said Auma, who cleared Form Four at Mbagathi Road Secondary School in 2023.
Kenya boxer Sheila Auma at the national team's hotel in Nairobi on October 17, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“Who won’t be happy to move their family from a place like Soweto to a good neighbourhood?” posed Auma, who was drawn to boxing by a friend, heavyweight boxer John Oyugi, who will also represent the country for the first time at the Zone III event.
Auma said that after completing school, she couldn’t advance in football, handball and table tennis because of lack of opportunities and thus sought refuge at the Undugu Kibera Boxing Club.
“Amina Martha and I were the only two female boxers in the gym. Martha, who has shown me all the ropes. It’s crazy that I could meet her in the semis,” said Auma.
From left: Boxers George Cosby, Caleb Wandera, Humphrey Ochieng, Amina Martha, John Oyugi, Sheila Auma and Bonface Mogunde at Blue Hut Hotel in Nairobi on October 17, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
She said her father, Moses Egesa, who is in the jua kali industry, and mother, Whilkister Aringo, need relief and she is determined to give it to them.
“They have been really supportive since I took up boxing with my father, who was once a boxer, telling me to always protect my head,” said Auma, whose ultimate target is the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games and to become a World Boxing Council (WBC) champion.
“I want to make history as the first female boxer to win an Olympic medal for Kenya,” said Auma.
Born on December 12, 2006 in Busia, a second born in a family of three girls and two boys, Auma trained for two weeks before her first competitive bout. She lost to Sakina Athiya.
At the Nairobi Novices Championships in March, Auma lost to Eveline Nyambura but bounced back at the National Novices Championships where she won three matches including the final against Nyambura.
Auma got a major breakthrough during the Kenya Open Championships where she beat Ann Wanjiru in the final and earned a place in the national team for the Zone III championship.
Kenya boxer Sheila Auma at the national team's hotel in Nairobi on October 17, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
She paid tribute to her coaches from Kibera led by Hassan Salim, and declared she was well trained to ruffle feathers in the Zone III.
In other bouts, Shaffi Bakari, will be eyeing her third consecutive medal after winning silver on debut in 2021 and gold in 2022 in flyweight but this time around in bantamweight. Bakari will meet Aime Iranezeza from Rwanda in the quarter-final.
African Games middleweight champion Edwin Okong’o and the 2019 Africa bronze medallist Cosby Ouma will face off in the quarter-final. The winner will fight Kinda Wetu from DRC in the semis.
A total of 32 fights are on the cards on Monday, 16 in the first session from 2pm and another 16 in the second session beginning at 6pm with nine countries competing.
