Kenyan boxers Joshua Wasike, David Karanja, Victor Odhiambo and George Cosby Ouma will be in action Tuesday on the second day of the 2021 AIBA Men's World Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
The draws for the biennial tournament were done on Sunday night at the Stark Arena.
Wasike will face off with Uladzislau Smiahlikau in the round of 64 of the heavyweight category. Uzbekistan’s Madiyar Saydrakhimov lies in wait for the winner between Wasike and the Belarussian.
Karanja will open his campaign in the hlyweight category against Ecuadorian Luis Delgado. The winner will book a date with Nodari Darbaidze (Georgia)/Oleksandr Korniv (Ukraine) on November 1.
Odhiambo has Indian Shiva Thapa for company in his first fight in light welterweight. He will be the first Kenyan in the ring.
The winner will meet Sierra Leonean John Brown on October 30. Ouma has been paired against Belgian Ziad El Mohor in Light Heavyweight with the winner facing Ukrainian Bogdan Tolmachov on October 30. Tolmachov earned a bye in round of 64.
Kenyan captain Nicholas “Commander” Okoth will enter the ring on October 27 against Dominican Alexy De La Cruz Baez in Lightweight, with the winner pitted against Murat Yildirim from Germany who got a bye. Okoth competed at the 2008 and 2020 Olympic Games and is making his third appearance at the World Championships after being eliminated early at the 2009 and 2017 editions.
Also lined up for action on October 27 are Boniface Mogunde (light middleweight) and Hezron Maganga (cruiserweight). Mogunde will slug it out with Albanian Alban Beqiri with the winner drawn against Lithuanian Saimonas Banys in the next stage. Maganga will meet Jordanian Riyad Alhindawi for a place in round 32 against Cuban Herich Ruiz or Serbian Slobodan Jovanovic on October 31.
Super heavyweight boxer Elly Ajowi, who was at the Olympics three months ago, will be in action on Thursday. Ajowi competed at the 2009 and 2013 World Championships.
He will tackle Tajikistan's Jakhon Qurbonov in round of 32 after they both earned byes in the round of 64. On the same day, Martin Aluoch (Featherweight) and Joseph Shigali (Welterweight) will meet Nathan Lunata from DR Congo and Milan Fodor (Hungary)/Marco Hernandez (Mexico) respectively.
Shaffi Hassan was one of the three boxers who represented Kenya at the 2017 World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.
He will have to go past Muhammet Sacli from Turkey to meet the winner between Michael Trinidade (Brazil) and Guerrero Cuadra (Nicaragua) in the next phase.
Edwin Okong’o (Middleweight) was matched up with Suliman Aslami from the Fair Chance team on October 30.
Fair Chance is a team created by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for athletes who have felt forced to leave their countries, often because of conflict.
Also in action on October 30 is Martin Maina whose first fight is against the winner of Yauheni Karmilchyk (Belarus) vs Sajeewa Mutunaka (Sri Lanka).
A total of 510 boxers from 88 National Olympic Committees are competing in the global contests which for the first time ever will award prize money to medalists.
Gold medal winners will take home Sh11.1 million. Silver and bronze medalists will walk away with Sh5.5 million and Sh2.7 million respectively.
Kenya’s best performance in recent years was during the 2013 championships in Almaty where Rayton “Boom Boom” Okwiri defeated Australian Daniel Lewis and Erkinbek Bolothek from Kyrgyzstan 3-0 in the first two rounds before being stopped by Welshman Fred Evans by the same margin in the third round in Welterweight. Simon Nzioki (Flyweight) knocked out England’s Charlie Edwards via TKO in the second round before being prescribed the same dose by Irishman Paddy Barnes in the third round.
Nickson Abaka (Middleweight) also won his first fight against Estonian Kaupo Arro 3-0 before Hungarian Zoltan Harcsa punished him 3-0 in the second round.
Peter Warui (Light Flyweight), John Matai (Lightweight), Ajowi (Light Heavyweight) and Daniel Shisia (Heavyweight) exited in their first fight in Almaty.
Since the inaugural edition, Kenya has won two medals at the world competition. Stephen “Desty” Muchoki bagged silver after losing against Cuban Jorge Hernandez in the Light Flyweight final before earning a sweet revenge four years later in Belgrade when he struck gold.
