Light heavyweight boxer Robert Okaka is the only Kenyan among 12 African boxers to reach the quarter-finals of the ongoing International Boxing Association (IBA) Men’s World Championship in Dubai.
The quarter-finals will take place tonight. Kenya was represented at the championship by 13 boxers. The event attracted 428 boxers from 109 countries, 128 of whom were from 34 African countries.
Okaka not only made it to the money bracket but also made history as the first Kenyan in over four decades to reach the quarter-finals.
Okaka, a two-time African bronze medallist, was also hoping to become the first Kenyan boxer to win a medal in 47 years. The last Kenyan boxers to reach the quarter-finals were the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics flyweight bronze medallist Ibrahim “Surf” Bilali and the 1982 Commonwealth Games lightweight champion Hussein “Juba” Khalili, who competed in the 1982 Munich World Boxing Championships.
Bilali lost 4–1 to Yong-Mo Heo of South Korea, while Khalili lost to American Pernell Whitaker 5–0.
Kenya’s Robert Okaka (right) attempts to land a punch on Yassir Rigui of Morocco during the Africa Boxing Championships in Kinshasa last month. Okaka guided KDF to win the fourth leg of the National Boxing League in Nanyuki.
Photo credit: Pool
Kenya was represented by three boxers at the event, one of whom was Peter ‘Pipino’ Wanyoike, the 1978 African Games welterweight champion, who reached the second round.
Just like Kenya, Africa was also chasing its first title at the world event in 10 years. It was Mohammed Rabii, the Moroccan African champion, who ended Africa’s 37-year wait for victory at the 2015 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. Okaka, fondly known as “One Man Ngori”, learnt his boxing trade at the Jericho Boxing Club in Nairobi. He will face Russian Dzhambulat Bizhamov in the quarter-finals.
Stephen Muchoki is the only Kenyan medallist from the World Boxing Championships. He won silver in the light flyweight category at the inaugural championship in Havana, Cuba in 1974, and a gold medal at the championship in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1978.
Okaka is assured of at least Sh1.3 million (US$10,000) for reaching the quarter-finals of the richest IBA world event, which has a prize money package.
Morocco’s emotional Widad Berthal celebrates after winning the gold medal by defeating Turkey’s Akbas Hatice in the bantamweight final of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Nis, Serbia, on Sunday night.
Photo credit: Pool | IBA
Boxers who lose in the semi-finals will receive a joint prize of Sh9.75 million (US$75,000), while the silver medallists will receive Sh19.5 million (US$150,000). The gold medallist will earn Sh39 million (US$300,000).
Newcomers Paul Omondi (featherweight, 21) and Washington Wandera (lightweight, 22) reached the round of 16, where nine Kenyan boxers made their debut.
The performance of the newcomers may give head coach Benjamin Musa hope for his rebuilding plan, as he has now taken nine boxers to their first world championship.
Those who lost in the round of 32 were Hit Squad captain Boniface Mogunde; heavyweight Peter Abuti; light welterweight Caleb Wandera; minimum weight Silas Onyango; flyweight Kevin Maina; and welterweight Wiseman Kavondo. The others to exit were middleweight Edwin Okong’o, light heavyweight Chrispin Ochanda, super heavyweight Clinton Macharia and bantamweight Shaffi Bakari.
Estonian referee Moris Punho controversially declares China’s Wang Xiaomeng the winner of the light-heavyweight fight against Kenya’s Elizabeth Andiego at the 14th IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Nis, Serbia, on March 13, 2025.
Mogunde was making his third appearance at the World Championships, while Okaka, Bakari, Abuti and Okong’o were making their second.
Omondi put on a brave performance against Armando Sigauque, the African Games featherweight silver medallist from Mozambique, while Wandera, who had beaten Mulindwa Fahadin from Uganda in the round of 32, lost to Prokudin Matvejs from Latvia.
Hit Squad head coach Benjamin Musa regretted that they had focused on the already established boxers while rebuilding took time.
“We are now feeling the heat, but this is the right time to start preparing for the 2028 Los Angeles and 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games,” said Musa, ‘as this approach will enable our ageing boxers to make a smooth transition.’
