Kenya’s Situs Onyango (right) and Abel Alemu of Ethiopia battle during the Africa Zone 3 Boxing Championship at Moi International Sports Center Gymnasium, Nairobi, on October 20, 2025. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]
It was a false start for Kenyan boxers on the first day of the Africa Zone Three Boxing Championships when five of its boxers lost their opening matches at Kasarani Indoor Arena in Nairobi on Sunday evening.
They were bantamweights Shaffi Bakari (54kg) and Emmanuel Chondo, welterweights (63.5-67kg) Washington Wandera and Joseph Shigali and lightweight (60kg) Ethan Maina.
Bakari who’s the bantamweight defending champion was beaten 4-1 by Aime Ivanzenza of Rwanda who was making his debut in the regional championships.
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Chondo lost 4-1 to Belfore Kanongo of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Both Wandera and Shigali lost by the same margin in their welterweight bouts.
Wandera was beaten by Ezra Paul of Tanzania who is the Africa Games bantamweight bronze medallist while Shigali fell to Edward Mugwaya of Uganda.
On his part, Maina lost on unanimous points decision to Adrike Jimmy of Uganda n the lightweight.
Maina started the match with a four out of ten mandatory count by referee Boniface Chacha of Tanzania but survived.
The defeats followed the first victory by flyweight Abednego Kyalo who beat Athumani Juma of Tanzania 4-1 points.
The five loses jolted their ambition to win the overall title but they must improve on their performance in their forthcoming matches on Monday.
The matches started late, a development that caused anxiety among the impatient fans.
However, organisers apologised for the delay without convincing explanations to the boxing fans.
There are nine participating countries including hosts Kenya, defending champions DRC, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Rwanda, and Gabon.
Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia are taking part for the first time.
Burundi, Somalia, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan and Central Africa Republic made an eleventh hour withdrawal.
It’s only Chad amongst the 14 member organisation that had formally indicated they’ll not feature in the championships.