A triumphant Kenya Defence Forces soldier Robert Okaka left the Dubai Duty Free Tennis
stadium arena on Monday night and went down on his knees outside the IBA Men’s World
Boxing Championships’ changing rooms – in intense prayer.
A man of deep faith, 26-year-old Okaka’s prayers had been answered and “One Man Ngori” had
landed into the money bracket by stopping Tunisia’s 23-year-old Youssef Rafrafi in the final
round of their light-heavyweight clash.
The win earned him at least $10,000 (Sh1.3 million) in the new International Boxing Association
(IBA) competition prize money structure that goes five deep, meaning that getting into the
quarters assures each boxer $10,000.
Robert Okaka battles Tunisia’s Youssef Rafrafi to enter quarters of the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on Monday. PHOTO – ELIAS
But it wasn’t a winning night on Monday for lightweight Washington Wandera Wabwire who
lost to Matvejs Prokudins of Latvia in a unanimous decision.
Wandera was on the backfoot early and couldn’t find a winning comeback after falling in the
first two rounds 0-5 each.
Meanwhile, should Okaka win his quarters fight against Russia’s Bizhamov Dzhambulat on
Wednesday night (session starts at 9pm local time, or 8pm Kenyan time), then he will be
assured of $75,000 (Sh9.75 million) set aside for bronze medallists.
Tournament winners in each category bank $300,000 (Sh39 million) with silver medallists going
home with $150,000 (Sh19.5 million).
The IBA announced a distribution structure for the prize money with the boxer retaining 50
percent, the coaches banking 25 percent and national federation 25 percent, meaning that
after Monday night’s victory, Okaka is personally assured of Sh650,000 with Sh325,000 going to
Coach Musa Benjamin and his corner and a similar amount to the Boxing Federation of Kenya.
Okaka took to the ring right after a well-supported Dzhambulat had outpointed his Kazakhstan
rival Yerassyl Zhakpekov 4-1 and the soldier spent the first round weighing up his Tunisian
opponent under the watch of Boznia and Herzegovina’s female referee Tina Poletan.
Robert Okaka celebrates after winning his Round of 16 clash against Tunisia’s Youssef Rafrafi to enter quarters of the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on Monday. PHOTO
Round One: Calculated, well-measured punches
Having convincingly won his Round of 32 clash 4-1 against Estonia’s Vinogradov Anton at the
weekend, Okaka’s confidence levels had soared, and he immediately landed a left hander early
sneaking in the points with effective jabs that saw all five judges – Uktam Bazarov (Uzbekistan),
Eduardo Gustin (Croatia), Sergei Zhurkin (Russia), Guo Zhang (China) and Saleh Abalkhail (Saudi
Arabia) – unanimous in awarding him the round.
“I started cautiously and didn’t want to mess up. I wanted to study him and I saw he was feeling
my punches, but I wasn’t too excited and took the fight to him but I didn’t want to burn myself
out,” Okaka analysed his opening round.
“So, I started calculating my punches. I thank head coach (Benjamin) Musa very much because
in training, he told me to calculate my punches, and that I should not just punch for the sake of
it, and that’s how I measured my punches.
“I was listening to the corner and the tips really helped me pick up the points.”
Robert Okaka takes a breather during his Round of 16 clash against Tunisia’s Youssef Rafrafi in the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on Monday. PHOTO – ELIAS
Round Two: Sucking strength out of Tunisian
In the second of three rounds, “One Man Ngori” – appearing in his second World
Championships – has a mission: To punch the gas out of the Tunisian who had eliminated
Latvia’s Aleksandrs Malinovskis in the round of 32.
Using his long wingspan, the KDF soldier dug into Rafrafi’s torso with the Tunisian resorting to
holding tactics to stay afloat, but he wasn’t lucky as Okaka’s right sent him sprawling onto the
canvas with a minute and two seconds of the round remaining, prompting a standing eightcount from ref Tina.
“The coaches know how to study an opponent and my coaches had studied him well. So, I
focused on the body blows to make him weaker and get the gas out of him,” the soldier
explained.
“I was punching hard so that he feels it, and that’s how I weakened him completely.”
Again, the judges were unanimous in their award.
Robert Okaka goes down in prayer after winning his Round of 16 clash against Tunisia’s Youssef Rafrafi at the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on Monday. PHOTO – ELIAS MAKORI.
Round Three: Enjoying the game!
It was evident that Rafrafi would not last the round as, having lost the first two rounds, he was,
naturally, forced to go for Okaka’s jugular, in the process exposing himself to counter-attacks
from the psyched-up soldier.
An Okaka combination with 2:14 to go summoned another standing count for the Tunisian from
Tina with Okaka now on the front foot.
And with Rafrafi struggling, ref Tina stopped the bout with 32 second remaining to save the
Tunisian and send Okaka punching his chest in celebration.
The soldier went down on both knees to thank the Almighty.
“The coach told me to maintain the attacks but also enjoy the game… I enjoyed the game and
got him with the uppercut,” Okaka revisited the match-winning round.
“I knew he would be aggressive and the coaches told me to go for the punches whenever he
attacked while at the same time taking the game to him. And it was when he was aggressively
following me that I landed the uppercut that won the fight…. I felt very good when the referee
stopped the contest… God answered my prayers.”
“But my intention was not to get a stop or knockout… it’s God who handed me the stop. All the
punches I landed came from God, not me. I knelt down and told God that I will do my best and
prayed for Him to give me the victory and today, God has given me a very big victory that I have
been praying for.
Russian comes up next…
Okaka now faces Russia’s Bizhamov Dzhambulat for a place in the last four on Wednesday
night, but he maintains his opponents are only human and that he’s equal to the task.
“They are humans and we are also humans, but I’m sure that we train harder than them. I have
the faith that we shall show them something in the ring.”
Dubai has so far been good to Okaka, a product of the Jericho Boxing Club who endured a tough
past and personal tragedies on his way to taking up boxing, rewarded with employment at the
KDF.
“The weather here is good and food excellent. You can eat whatever you want but I have to be
cautious and maintain my diet because we are supposed to maintain a certain weight – I don’t
eat everything that I see, and when I get into the gym, I train hard and I pray hard that my
sweat is not in vain.
“Tonight, God has proven that indeed it’s not in vain – I’m confident I will be in the ring for
Saturday’s finals.”
Wandera disappointed, but takes the positives
Lightweight Wandera, meanwhile, conceded that he lost to a better fighter, but remains
positive after drawing invaluable experience on this global stage.
“I made some mistakes that even the coaches noted… there were some punches I made going
in with the body and my opponent took advantage with his counter-attacks,” Wandera
reflected.
“He knew I was going for the power punches so he was highly mobile and also had a better
hand speed than me… I will go back to the gym and work on these mistakes.
“I’m happy with everything in this competition and I thank God for the exposure. It’s a great
opportunity… a lose is a learning experience and when you win, you also learn. I’ve accepted
that it’s not every time that I will win,” added Wandera who cruised into the Round of 16 by
defeating Dubai-based Ugandan Fahad Mulindwa, a regular competitor on the professional
circuit.
“These boxers at this competition are the top in the world, and I can also count myself as being
one of the top in the world… it’s just small mistakes that I made, but I will correct them and
bounce back,” Wandera, a Kenya Defence Forces soldier, concluded.
Kenya’s Quarter-Final pairings on Wednesday (December 10):
Light heavyweight, 75-80kgs:
- Robert Okaka vs Bizhamov Dzhambulat (Russia) – (session starts at 21:00hrs Dubai
- time);
Kenya’s Round of 16 pairings on Tuesday (December 9):
- Featherweight, 54-57kgs: Paul Omondi Onguku vs Armando Rugoberto Sigauque
- (Mozambique) – (Round of 16, Tuesday 21:00hrs)
‘Hit Squad’ casualties:
- Minimumweight, 46-48kgs: Sylus Onyango lost to Danil Hasika Tissaaratchy (Sri Lanka);
- Flyweight, 48-51kgs: Kelvin Maina Michira lost to Daniyal Sabit (Kazakhstan);
- Bantamweight, 51-54kgs: Shaffi Bakari lost to Rafael Lozano Serrano (Spain);
- Welterweight, 63.5-67kgs: Wiseman Kavondo lost to Hovhannes Bachkov (Armenia);
- Middleweight, 71-75kgs: Edwin Okongo lost to Kapuler Ishchenko Miroslav (Israel);
- Cruiserweight, 80-86kg: Chrispine Ochanda lost to Andrei Chiriakov (Moldova);
- Heavyweight, 86-92kg: Peter Abuti lost to Bakyt Ululu Toktosun (Kyrgyzstan);
- Super heavyweight, 92kgs plus: Clinton Macharia lost to Smiahlikau Uladzislau (Belarus)
- Light welter, 60-63.5kgs: Caleb Wandera lost to Lucas Mariano Villalba (Argentina);
- Light Middleweight, 67-71kgs: Boniface Mogunde lost to Sarkan Aliyev (Azerbaijan).
- Lightweight, 57-60kgs: Washington Wandera Wabwire lost to Matvejs Prokudins
- (Latvia)
