Golola to fight Kasumaali as tune-up for Ouma

For reasons best known to them, Step By Step Promotions postponed the potential boxing thriller between Moses Golola and Kassim Ouma, which was slated for early May.

Now to keep the vibe high, Eddie Gombya decided to restage Golola against radio comedian Abbas Kizito aka Kasumaali, at Sheraton Hotel on May 6, as a tune-up for Golola vs Ouma, which has been pushed to June 9, on Heroes’ Day.

Golola vs Kasumaali was supposed to happen on Heroes’ Day in 2019 in the middle of Wilson Road, Kampala, but promoter Gombya cancelled it after Golola agreed to rematch kickboxing rival Umar Ssemata, moreover posing as a fighter for the political pressure group People Power, which would soon become National Unity Platform.

Gombya said associating with a fighter playing partisan politics could ruin his relations with the authorities.

Soon, a rival promoter Abbey Mugayi took the fight to Arua and Kasumaali was referred to as a Kenyan. This led to UPBC suspending Mugayi from his duties as the technical vice president.

But nearly four years later, all that seems water under the bridge as Golola, Kasumaali, Gombya and Mugayi shared a table, smiling during the fight launch at Uhuru Restaurant last week.

It will be just over 30 days between fighting Kasumaali and Ouma and asked whether Golola won’t be too tired against Ouma, he said, “That’s just a warm up. Kasumaali cannot tire me. He is a good boxer. But not good enough to scare me.”

He added: “It’s going to be 10 rounds of boxing but I don’t think I will let him last 10 rounds.”