The Boxing Federation of Kenya (BFK) has the honours of staging the inaugural World Boxing Africa Elite Championships that started on Friday in Nairobi. It’s the first time since 1972 that the country is hosting a major continental boxing championship.
The tournament comes at a time when the boxing federation is grappling with dwindling standards and in urgent need of inspiration to spark a renaissance. The championship also offers Kenyan boxers a pathway to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Kenya will again field two boxers in each of the 10 weight categories in the men and women’s events, having had the privilege of fielding the same number of fighters during the regional African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) Zone III Championships in October last year.
Getting to host two continental events within one year with the government funding both competitions is a gesture that BFK must reciprocate by providing good governance and structures that will help in the growth of the game.
Missing out on the Olympics for the first time since independence, at the 2024 Paris Games and failing to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games for the first time in two decades, at the 2022 Birmingham Games, illustrated just how low the national boxing team had sunk.
For instance, the BFK should market its activities such as the national league and the “Ndondi Mashinani” grassroots event in order to attract sponsors.
Indeed, the talent is there. Middleweight’s Edwin Okong’o handed Kenya its first African Games victory after 17 years at the 2024 African Games in Accra, Ghana while light middleweight’s Boniface Mogunde won the country its first African title in seven years at the 2024 African Boxing Confederation Championships in Kinshasa. Robert Okaka became the first Kenyan in 43 years to reach the quarter-finals of the International Boxing Association in December last year in Dubai.
BKF should not only aim at delivering a good championship but also boxers getting to the Olympic Games and beyond.
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