Boxing League: Adinan vs Kibira a must-watch

If you love boxing and haven’t watched a terrific match in a while, you must book your ticket for Owen Kibira vs Yasin Adinan, at New Obligato on Saturday.

The two will face off in a welterweight thriller that will wind up the Uganda Boxing Champions League Week Four.

This is a battle that you could love and loathe in equal measure and could send everyone on the edge of their seats if both fighters do their best.

They both have the power, the skill and the will to give their all in the ring. Physically, little separates them, though Kibira has the advantage of being familiar with this weight. Adinan has been fighting one division under.

And they have the fans. Kibira banks on the massive and noisy support from Lukanga and Kyengera Boxing Club while Adinan will be buoyed by the unwavering ghetto boys of Kibuli-Mutajazi.

It is safer if one is outclassed, which is unlikely. Yet an end-to-end match will make the judges’ verdict highly contestable—a recipe for chaos.

The Champions League is the only selection tournament for national boxers. And this fight was supposed to happen last year as Adinan looked for a place on the Bombers team that would box at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

It did not happen and Kibira, who had dominated the welterweight division, went to Birmingham, his first international assignment and later to Maputo, Mozambique for the African Championships.

Now Kibira, who stopped at the quarterfinals in Birmingham and Maputo, is under pressure to prove that he deserves to be a Bomber.

Adinan is equally under pressure of not hitting the targets he promised seven years ago, when as a teenager, he smashed experienced boxers like Atanus Mugerwa.

Interestingly, both lost their last bouts. Kibira fell to nemesis Ukasha Matovu on the last day of the league’s Season One, December 26.

Adinan, though not convinced, lost 4-1 to Simon Sande in the welterweight final of the National Open Championship in March. So, a win will mean more than just three points, in such a competitive division that also has Sande and the improved and psyched Matovu, who outclassed Kibira in Boxing Day revenge.

Another highly-awaited match will be between Birmingham bronze medalist Teddy Nakimuli from University of Pain against Nadia Najjemba from Lukanga.

African bronze medalist Yusuf Nkobeza from Nakawa Boxing Club will take on Ronald Nsamba from UBF Select.

WEEK FOUR SELECT BOUTS, SATURDAY

Owen Kibira vs Yasin Adinan (welter)

Teddy Nakimuli vs Nadia Najjemba (women’s flyweight)

Yusuf Nkobeza vs Ronald Nsamba (middleweight)

Araf Kibirige vs Juma Ayiro

Solomon Geko vs Sabbath Zikama (super heavy)