Kinoru Stadium in Meru County is set to host a maiden professional boxing championship on March 16 this year featuring Kenya’s star boxer and former Africa Champion Daniel Wanyonyi, and Charity ‘Scary’ Mukami.
The show dubbed ‘Shujaa wa Mashujaa’ is promoted by Lion Heart Boxing Promotions, Alpha Charlie Solutions, and Office Inn Bar and Grill and will also include other professional boxers from the United States of America (USA), Scotland, Namibia, Tanzania, England, Uganda and Nigeria.
According to Edward Mendy of the Lion Heart Boxing Promotions, the Afrifite two event and the second of the Eastern African series will also be seeking to create awareness about teenage pregnancy prevalence in Meru County as well as support the Greenland school for girls and teenage mothers in Kajiado.
His sentiments were echoed by Alpha Charlie Solutions’ Caroline Gikunda who also added that hosting the event for the first time in the country and Meru County will also grow boxing as a sport and lead to positive nametags of boxers from Meru as opposed to negative stories of teenage pregnancies.
Meru County Youth Affairs, Gender and Social Development Executive Benjamin Mungania said they were privileged to host the international event as a county which is also one of its kind in Kenya.
“We are grateful to the organisers and the partnerships that we have here that will promote the awareness on teenage pregnancy prevalence in the County, “said Mungania.
“The theme of this event will be, “Creating awareness for teenage pregnancy prevalence in Meru County and advocating for second chances for education for teenage mothers,” added Mr Mungania.
Meru Municipality MCA Caleb Mutethia said they were proud as a ward and as a county that they were hosting one of the biggest events in the region, however, he regretted that they were trending in the wrong direction in matters of teenage pregnancies.
“This event alone is an awareness platform to our people about what is happening in our community and this is the reason I am taking this opportunity to thank both the organisers and those who birthed the idea of bringing the event to Meru so that we can voice the challenge we are having with our young generation, especially the young girls,” said Mr Mutethia.
He added: “I encourage our people to show up, the corporates and others because as the people of Meru, we have a responsibility to protect our young generation and we can’t do it any better rather than bringing awareness in such an event.”
Boxers thanked the organisers for including them in the event, adding that it would be great to stage their competition in Meru County for the first time.
“I started my boxing career in 2007 but all along I have never participated in any tournament in Meru. This therefore will be a great chance for me to show my people that I am up to the task and encourage other young ladies to come out and join the sport,” said Ms Mukami.
She added that it was also a great privilege to be involved in the teenage pregnancy campaigns adding that there was a need to save the young girls from early pregnancies to safeguard their future.
“I want to welcome you all to Kinoru stadium on March 16 so that you can experience the full boxing entertainment of your lifetime,” said Ms Mukami.
Wanyonyi on the other hand encouraged young people to join sporting activities adding that this will prevent them from engaging in wasteful endeavours.
“Sports is tiring but it builds up discipline. I was born in Majengo Nairobi where there was so much drug abuse and crime. Most of my mates were killed long ago and others are serving long sentences in jails,” said Mr Wanyonyi.
He observed that boxing gives one discipline since during training one’s mind focuses on the sport with a dream to grow the talent. Moreover, after training, one will have gotten tired and seek to relax therefore he will have no time to indulge in drugs or criminal activities.
He called upon fans to turn up in large numbers to witness his prowess in boxing.
“Come all and witness a ghetto boy outsmarting an American boxer with many awards under his name. I promise you that history will be written right from Kinoru Stadium,” said Mr Wanyonyi.
The preliminary card indicates that Mukami who has five wins, four losses, and a draw (5-4-1) will take on Leilah Yusuph Macho (2-0) in a middleweight bout that will last eight rounds while Wanyonyi (29-15) will take on American Kamron Humphrey (3-2) in a super middleweight bout scheduled for eight rounds.
But the main event will see Scottish Lee McAllister (48-3), a two-time Commonwealth and five-class world champion face off against Tanzanian Amos Mwamakula (15-9) in a middleweight bout that will take 10 rounds.
Mr Mendy said that for the first time in many years, there will be a national fight in welterweight pitting John Juma Oloo (4-0-0) versus Martin Achebi (4-0-0) in a battle that is scheduled to last ten rounds.
