Two Kenya Defence Forces ladies were on a deadly mission at the just concluded Africa Boxing Confederation (AFBC) Zone III champions at Kasani stadium in Nairobi.
And they delivered in style, leaving their rivals gasping for air.
Africa Military Games welterweight champion Friza “Smiling Assassin” Anyango and Africa Military Games silver medallist Veronica Mbithe are the new AFBC Zone III champions.
Their contribution saw the national team, the Hit Squad, once again finish second with 24 medals; five gold, 11 silver and nine bronze. Kenya was represented by 34 boxers who included 11 women. The women got three gold, five silver and two bronze medals.
The women boxers came to the rescue with Amina Martha, who had previously claimed bronze in featherweight, winning gold in bantamweight.
Deputy team captain Boniface Mogunde, who is also African Games champion, led from the front, winning men’s light middleweight gold as Dandora’s motorcycle rider Silas Onyango reigned supreme in light flyweight.
“You see, people mistake my smile for many things. I use it as a decoy...I turn into a beast when I take the ring,” said Anyango, who halted DRC boxers’ dominance, outfoxing Nsii Muleketsi 4-1 in the light middleweight final.
Anyango, who was a jack of all trades in high school, taking up athletics, football and volleyball before discovering boxing gloves while in Kariobangi North where she grew up, has her eyes on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Anyango attended Kariobangi Pentecostal Assembly of God Primary School and Kariobangi North Girls where she graduated in 2017. She took up boxing in 2019. KDF recruited her in 2021.
Kenya’s Hit Squad coach Benjamin Musa (left) takes welterweight boxer Friza Anyango through her paces at Police Depot Mathare in Nairobi on February 25, 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
“I had trained well for this event which gave me confidence. Stakes were high by virtue of hosting the championships. I had to put in my best,” said 26-year-old Anyango.
“This shows that with hard work and determination, everything is possible,” said Anyango, who also hopes to make Team Kenya for the 2026 Commonwealth Games and 2026 Women’s World Boxing Championships.
“I failed both during the 2024 Paris Olympics Africa and World qualifiers but I am learning the ropes,” said Anyango, the last born in a family of nine.
Mbithe, who learned her trade at the populous Dallas Boxing Club at the infamous Muthurwa Estate, Nairobi, made light work of Uganda’s Muduwa Brenda for her maiden Africa Zone III gong. Martha outclassed Tanzanian Zulfa Yusuf to also take her first Africa Zone II title.
Mogunde outclassed Alvin Oduor 5-0 in an all Kenya light middleweight final. Hit Squad captain Elizabeth Andiego, who won light heavyweight gold in 2022, had to settle for silver in the middleweight final this time around.
Onyango, making his second appearance with Hit squad, won against Mayala Tsimba from DRC in the first round after the cut above the Congolese right eye worsened, forcing the bout to be stopped in favour of the Kenyan
It was a close decision as Andiego, the Africa heavyweight silver medallist, lost to Congolese Mwamba LuLua 3-2 while Lorna Kusa from Kenya yet again settled for silver in light heavyweight losing to Congolese Malewu Tekasala 5-0. Kusa had won silver in light middleweight in 2022.
Kenya served out three walkovers after Faith Nafuna (flyweight), Emily Juma (lightweight) and Diouf Muimi failed to take the ring in their respective finals. Juma fell sick while Nafuna and Muimi had gone to present their documents for enrolment at the KDF.
The performance marked a drop from the 2022 championships held in Kinshasa, DR Congo (DRC), where Kenya collected 17 medals; six gold, five silver and six bronze.
DRC topped the medal standings with 21 medals; 12 gold, five and four bronze, which for them, which also marks a slight drop in performance, having collected 38 medals; 13 gold, 13 silver and 12 bronze when they hosted in 2022.
