Demoted Bombers Kyobe, Kibira back with rage

Demotion at the time you thought you are the best either makes you better or worse. Featherweight Jonah Kyobe and welterweight Owen Kibira, some of those surprisingly omitted from the national team that is in Yaounde, Cameroon for the Africa Confederations Boxing Championship, chose to get better.

Both emphatically won their bouts at Week Seven of the Uganda Boxing Champions League at the TLC Arena in Kamwokya Saturday night, to remind their doubters that they are still here.

Nakawa’s Eliphaz Mbaziira came with the clout of being one of the hottest prospects in the sport after his silver medal at the National Open in March and that upsetting stoppage of Derrick Mubiru in June.

A complete package: power, pace, art and will to fight, Mbaziira was fantastic in the first two rounds against Lukanga’s Kyobe, who won bronze at the 2022 African Championship in Maputo, Mozambique.

They evenly shared the third round but Kyobe’s experience and determination showed in the fourth round, and Mbaziira was simply subdued, eventually surrendering what looked to be another big upset.

Many thought the youngster was saving his gas for a powerful finish, perhaps another stoppage of a much more experienced opponent. But unlike Mubiru, Kyobe was fitter, wiser and up to the task. In the fifth and last round, he chased Mbaziira, rocked him with hooks until the last bell.

Kyobe even suffered a cut on his left eye, and retreated to the doctor’s corner for over a minute. His blood spilled to Mbaziira’s hair. But the youngster did not land the shot he badly needed to turn things in his favour.

Kyobe won 5-0, sparking wild celebrations from his Bwaise fans who sang Mando, Mando, Mando in remembrance of the late Isaac Zebra Ssenyange, who made Kyobe a boxer.

“The kid is good but not good enough to survive my wrath,” Kyobe said amid fervent interruptions from his gang.

Ahead of Cameroon, Kyobe was replaced by Kasim Murungi, who defeated Mbaziira at the National Open final in March. Murungi and Kyobe were scheduled to fight in June but Kyobe pulled out twice, reporting sickness.

“We have big ambitions, and this is a warning that we are back and tough. Whatever slipped from our hands we shall catch it again,” he said.

Earlier on, the referee stopped the contest after Lukanga’s Owen Kibira made Sparks’ Muhammed Ali Kawooya a punching bag. Kawooya knelt near the neutral corner in the third round and the ref ended it. Kibira, a quarterfinalist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the African Championship, smiled in victory.

The loser complained of flu and faulted the ref for ignoring his plea to have it addressed. But why didn’t he report it to the doctor when he was being treated for a cut above his left ear?

In the only women’s bout, Lukanga’s Shakira Nantongo outclassed Katwe’s Sultan Mariam 5-0.