KK Memorial: Daku free, ready to fight

Andaman Daku’s homecoming after 20 years in the diaspora looked in jeopardy after the former national boxer was reportedly detained at Entebbe Airport on arrival Monday evening.

But the coast seems clear now and he is ready to take on Briton Marcus Warry in an exhibition fight at the KK Memorial event at the MTN Arena-Lugogo tonight.

“I’m glad to be back home and fight again at Lugogo after 20 years,” said Daku, a former welterweight. “I’m here to honour my two great coaches, and do what they taught me to do best.”

The event is aimed at commemorating former national coaches Musa Kent and Dick Katende, who died in 2011 and 2016 respectively.

In the build-up, Daku bought 400 tickets for fans willing to grace tonight’s event that will attract a dozen of amateur fights between Kent’s former club UPDF and Katende’s East Coast.

2019 African Games silver medalist Isaac Masembe will take on Jimmy Adrigo in the lightweight division—the main fight.

 Early Tuesday, Daku based in Amsterdam, posted a video of himself in what he called the detention room at the airport narrating that he was being arrested for allegedly organising a joint demonstration with the National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters in Amsterdam against the NRM government.

Andaman, as he is known in boxing circles and on social media, was among the most vocal campaigners for NUP’s Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine when he took on President Museveni in the 2021 elections.

He has, however, toned down on his criticism of Museveni’s regime which has fuelled suspicions that he was compromised. 

Daku dismissed such allegations.

“My arrest was not a prank,” he said in a press interview at Lugogo yesterday. “I was detained by the airport police on arrival and they confiscated both my two passports. But thank God I’m out and ready for action. Details will be for another day.”

To his ardent followers Daku said: “You can’t achieve everything out of force; sometimes you need to be humble.”