12 Sports Rounds promises better show after six-month break
Masembe is back in the ring on Saturday. PHOTO/COURTSEY
What you need to know:
Shadir, who went solo towards the end of 2022, renewed his ties with 12 Rounds, and will pull his crowd back to the arena five month after that superb knockout of Ivan Magumba in January.
12 Sports Rounds Promotions might have learnt its lessons from its past shortcoming and has promised a better show when it returns to the ring at New Obligato this Saturday.
The new promotion company met its target of four events in 2022—its first year in business—but was forced to suspend operations after its December 26 event at the Kampala Hockey Grounds flopped late night due to unnecessary delays and contractual disagreements.
Six months later, 12 Rounds is back in the game, with several potential thrillers and committed to give the fans value for their money.
In the main fight, Henry Kasujja will take on Tanzanian Salehe Mkalekwa in a super welterweight nontitle duel.
Mkalekwa, who won the African Boxing Union African welterweight title in 2018, was supposed to take on David Ssemuju on December 26, on the undercard of Kassim Ouma vs Kenyan Rayton Okwiri before the rain washed away the event in the wee hours of the night.
Kasujja is a rising star, who has won both fights since losing his debut to 2020 Olympian Musa Shadir Bwogi in July 2022.
In the co-main act, ruthless Isaac Masembe faces another Tanzanian Fred Sayuni in a super featherweight duel. This is Masembe’s biggest test since his pro debut in October 2022 having easily knocked out both his opponents thus far. Meanwhile, Sayuni has an experience of 33 pro fights (14 wins, 12 losses, 7 draws) since his debut in 2004.
Shadir, who went solo towards the end of 2022, renewed his ties with 12 Rounds, and will pull his crowd back to the arena five month after that superb knockout of Ivan Magumba in January.
Like most promotions, 12 Rounds has been poor at time management, with events ending past 4am. “The bouts we have can take five to six hours. So this time we want to start a little earlier, around 7pm and if we avoid delays, we can finish by 01:00am, latest,” matchmaker Faisal Ali Ashinda told Daily Monitor.
“We want all our fans to enjoy the event, and show that we have learnt from our mistakes.”
SELECTED BOUTS
Henry Kigongo Kasujja vs. Salehe Mkalekwa, (super welterweight)
Isaac Masembe vs Fred Sayuni (super feather)
Swalick Kisitu vs Musa Mugisha (super light)
Farahat Manilola vs Moses Mutaka (super light)
Jamil Kayiwa vs Ben Ssajjabi (super feather)
Musa Shadir Bwogi vs Ntumwa Sinoba (middle)
