Uganda’s Bogere wins return fight

Uganda’s Bogere showed no signs of ring rust in his victory over Mexican opponent Rodrigues. COURTESY PHOTO

Boston, Massachusetts- Saturday night’s fight against Jose Luis Rodrigues (23-10-1) was an open indicator that Sharif ‘The Lion’ Bogere is back to form and a step closer for title contention.
The 29-year-old Ugandan based in Las Vegas claimed a unanimous decision over his Mexican opponent in the main event of a 10 round lightweight bout at the Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall. It was a spectacular display of speed, power and acuracy. Rodrigues becomes the 13th Mexican to succumb to Bogere’s dominance since he turned pro in 2008.
Bogere (30-1) started off early with a jab in the face that rocked Rodrigues back before he deployed a couple of right hands that saw the Mexican stagger.
Round two commenced with an exchange from both boxers but Bogere’s speed and power intensified as the former Bomber captain shook off the rust from a 14 month layoff.
As the rounds advanced, Bogere claimed full control of the fight throwing lightening combinations that kept Rodrigues on the ropes. He always attacked from angels with measured aggregation, lots of body shots and his punches came so fast that it was very hard for Rodrigues to see them. The final tallies recorded 100-90 on all three cards.
Bogere acknowledged that his accuracy hasn’t been where it needs to be yet but improving it is one of the things he works on daily.

“Some of my punches were accurate tonight and I am happy with that, but I still have work to do to get to a level better than this,” said Bogere who is just making a come back from a year long Achilles’ tendon injury.
From a physical standpoint, Bogere said that he feels “really good” especially after winning by a decision.

“Fighting through all the ten rounds has helped me measure my stamina. I am happy to have won by a decision because i was able to tell how fit I am,” said Bogere. “ I would not be able to know my fitness had this fight ended early, like in a KO situation.”
Bogere’s manager Jimmy Alex hailed his boxer for the display “I could tell from the anger in his face that he really missed the ring. From what i saw tonight, there’s no doubt, Bogere is ready for a bigger fight. I am going to have him rest for some weeks as we plan for the next tune-up fight,” said Alex.