Kawere: A Ugandan that once trained with Muhammad Ali

Tom Kawere, former national boxing team coach that once trained Muhammad Ali.

The death of legendary American boxer Muhammad Ali was over the weekend received with shock throughout the sporting world especially among those that once interacted with him during his hey days. Not many Ugandans though seem to be aware that one of their own once briefly coached Muhammad Ali, widely believed to be the greatest athlete of the 20th century.

Tom Kawere, 89 a grandson of Buganda Kingdom great chief and regent Stanislas Mugwaanya mourned Muhammad Ali too when contacted yesterday (June 5, 2016) at his Lubaga-Nabunnya home, a stone’s throw away from Lubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral.

Kawere, the head coach of the Ugandan boxing team to the 1960 Rome Olympics, says will never forget that moment at the start of the Games when a strange young man of 18 knocked at the Ugandan boxing team camp.

“May I please come in,” he politely requested with a friendly wide smile,” recalls Kawere. “Then being an amateur, we didnt know much of him when he introduced himself as Cassius Clay (four years before he converted to Islam and changing his name to Muhammad Ali) ,an American Light heavy weight boxer who wanted to train with a team from Africa and get to gauge their capability, saying he had never fought an African.” Kawere looked at the boxer with caution and almost turned him away but being black, polite and friendly made the Ugandan coach change his mind.

Tom Kawere seated second right posing with the Ugandan boxing team of 1964.

“Under normal circumstances, no coach can allow this, for I mistook him for someone who wanted to spy at our skillful boxers of the time like Francis Nyangweso, Alex Odhiambo, and George Oywello.” This was how Mohammad Ali came to train with Ugandan boxers several times during the Games with coach Tom Kawere giving him a word of advice here and there plus some boxing tips he noticed him missing.

“The first thing that I noticed about this teenager was his boxing footwork which I found so unique. We also learned a lot from him. When he reached the Game’s boxing semi finals he returned to the Ugandan Camp and this was the last time I interacted with him. He was so good and I was never surprised seeing him winning a gold medal, having defeated all his opponents with a 5-0 judges’ decision on the way.”
Mohammad Ali, according to Kawere, never met a Ugandan boxer during the Games since George Oywello who was in his Light Heavy Weight category, had already been defeated in the first round by Gheorghe Negrea of Romania.

It was Oywello from Gulu that later became the first Ugandan to win a gold medal at a major international event -at the Commonwealth Games of 1962 in Perth, Australia.

And what Ugandan boxers of today should learn from the legendary Mohammed Ali, Tom Kawere points to nothing but his “butterfly” footworking style which he says is very instrumental to especially tall boxers by helping and directing them on how to move in and out of the game. Kawere says Muhammed Ali must at one time been a good dancer, saying those good at dancing tend to make exceptionally good boxers.

Kawere early life
Kawere captained the Namilyango College boxing team between 1945-49 before joining the national team he led between 1951-1958. He won a silver medal at Welter Weight category during the 1958 Empire (Commonwealth) Games in Cardiff, wales with a number of British papers the following morning reporting that he was simply robbed of a gold medal through biased refereeing.

Throughout his boxing career, Kawere claims to have never been defeated in competitions he participated in Uganda and whole of East Africa.

He was Ugandan national boxing team coach for a decade from 1960. Before that he had founded the Kampala Boxing Club credited with grooming a number of prominent boxers like Grace Seruwagi, Alex Odhiambo, Francis Kisekka, Bother Edwards, Ayub Kalule, John “the Beast” Mugabi. And don’t forget that former Ugandan president Idi Amin who once held the country’s Heavy Weight boxing belt also used to train from Kampala boxing club. “I used to train Idi Amin when he was still at the rank of Lance Corporal and he was someone who was always eager to learn new boxing tricks,” Kawere recalls.