Nakuru has produced some of the finest boxers in the country. Philip Waruinge, the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games featherweight bronze medallist, and 1972 Munich Olympics silver medallist and John Wanjau, who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, are some of the famous Nakuru boxers who shone for Kenya’s national team, the Hit Squad.
Others are the 1972 Munich Olympic Games lightweight bronze medallist Samuel Mbugua, 1995 African Games light heavyweight champion Peter “Dynamite” Odhiambo, who also won bronze at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games, Olympians George “Mosquito” Findo, John Nderu and Isaiah Ikhoni.
However, over the last 10 years, Nakuru has failed to produce a fighter of worth until recently.
Former international boxer Philip Waruinge, the only Kenyan boxer to win two medals in two Olympics, after the fourth leg of the SportsPesa national boxing league at Madison Square Garden in Nakuru on October 21, 2017.
Photo credit: Francis Mureithi | Nation Media Group
Enter the fast-rising Caleb Wandera, who only took up boxing three years ago after quitting athletics and taekwondo.
The 24-year-old Wandera is among 34 boxers who will fight for Kenya at the Africa Boxing Confederation Zone III Championships starting on Saturday at the Moi International Sports Centre (MISC), Kasarani Indoor Arena.
The spot checking, technical meeting and the draw will be done on Friday by 1 pm, followed by the opening ceremony at 5 pm. The championships have attracted 10 out of the 15 zonal countries.
The last boxer to have represented Nakuru internationally was John “Koki” Kariuki, who participated in the 2013 President’s Cup in Sri Lanka.
Already, Wandera is visualising himself fighting at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as he dreams of recapturing not only Nakuru’s lost glory but that of the Hit Squad too.
It has all been hard work, sacrifice and determination for Wandera in his brief boxing career.
To earn his maiden call-up to the Hit Squad, Wandera won the third leg of the National Boxing League in Nakuru last month, beating Nairobi’s Wiseman Kavondo in the light welterweight final.
He was picked alongside 2024 Africa bronze medallist Vincent Aloice Ochieng of Police in the light welterweight category.
Wandera stunned international Ethan Maina from the Police on points in the semi-finals after knocking out Pius Macharia of KDF and Goldsmith Wafula from Mombasa in the first and second rounds, respectively.
Wandera lost to Police’s Emmanuel Omollo in the final of the first leg of the league in Busia, reached the final of the second leg in Mombasa, but was disqualified for arriving late for the bout.
Kenyan heavyweight boxer Joseph Akhasamba displays the World Boxing Board Heavyweight belt he won in 2000 after beating German boxer Rene Hani in Dresden, Germany.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
“I can’t take this opportunity for granted. It’s a great privilege to represent the country for the first time and I thank God for it,” said Wandera, who took up boxing at Flamingo and Kivumbini areas on the outskirts of Nakuru City in 2022.
“I am looking at a podium finish but I can’t tell you the colour of the medal. What I know is that I have prepared well with coaches back at my Nakuru team and the national coaches,” said Wandera.
Interestingly, Wandera is handled by his first coach, Peter Githinji, together with Camlos Juma, Robinson Gakuo and Ibrahim Ngeso in Nakuru and Benjamin Musa and David Munuhe when with Kenya.
“I am so lucky to tap into several expert hands and I am enjoying it. It makes me smarter combining all their varying techniques,” said Wandera, who was born on November 11, 2000, in Busia County. He is the second-born in a family of three boys and two girls.
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
Wandera first picked up athletics while at Malanga Mixed Secondary School in Nambale, Busia country, where he represented his school in 5,000m and 10,000m up to the regional level.
He failed to sign up for any athletics camp after finishing high school in 2017 and would relocate to Nakuru in 2019, where he switched to taekwondo after being lured to the martial arts by his cousin Emmanuel Otieno, who was a student at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.
Wandera featured for Menengai Taekwondo Club and then Flamingo Young Tigers in bantamweight, but a lack of funds to honour matches hampered his development in the sport.
In 2022, he joined Githinji at Flamingo Boxing Club and Juma at Kivumbini Boxing Club, and within a month, he had secured his first inter-club victory against Robert Johnny in welterweight.
He was picked in the Nakuru team for the National Novices Championships in 2023 in Nairobi, where he lost to Lee Njoroge in the light welterweight first round.
However, he won two bouts to reach the Intermediate Championships final in Kajiado, where he lost to Michael Oduor. Reaching the final earned him a place in the 2023 Kenya Open, which was used as the qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics Africa qualifier.
At the Open, he bested Wisdom Muindi of Nairobi but lost to Ethan Maina of Police in the quarter-final before shifting focus to the first leg of the National League in Vihiga. He reached the semis, losing to Vincent Aloice Ochieng of Police. He again lost to Ochieng in the final of the second leg in Siaya and the fourth leg in Nanyuki.
He lost in the semis of the fifth and final leg of the 2023 league in Kisumu and in the 2024 Kenya Open semi-finals to Pius Macharia.
Wandera turned things around in 2024, beating Jared Omondi in the final of the first leg in Kisumu, then claimed sweet revenge against Macharia in the second leg in Mombasa, only to lose to Ochieng in the final. He won his second final in the third leg in Embu, knocking out Macharia.
