By Geoffrey Mpenda, May 6 2006, Nairobi: On Thursday it was revealed that today’s fight-card at the Pal Pal Gymnasium, Pumwani, Nairobi was reduced to five bouts when an opponent was not available for former Kenyan and African heavyweight champion Joseph Akhasamba, and regrettably one more of the main fights fell through in the days leading up to the show.. Athanas Nzau withdrew from his rematch with former conqueror Andrew Samba, and, according to promoter Henrick Risum, without any explanation:
“I have no idea why Nzau pulled out of the fight”, says Risum. “He just informed (co-promoter) Akhasamba that he wasn’t boxing, and promised to give an explanation the next day at a meeting. He never showed up for the meeting, so I guess that’s all there is to it. He didn’t want to fight, that’s all I can say at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the remaining four bouts of the show went ahead, and provided some decent action for the fans in attendance, who were all admitted for free to this third instalment of Risum Boxing’s Pal Pal Punchers series. The first bout of the afternoon show was a welterweight contest between John Nguru Muhuri, a.k.a. “Totoman”, and Caleb Amianda. Nguru controlled the physically bigger Amianda well throughout the entire scheduled four rounds, and ended up with a well-deserved unanimous points victory. The pair also met five years ago with Nguru winning in the first round, so todays looser can be satisfied that he did better this time around.
At middleweight, the fourth encounter of a long-lasting rivalry between Joseph Njoka Ngandu and Kennedey Oyola saw Ngandu emerge a unanimous points winner after four rounds. “Mau-Mau” Ngandu was first set to face Joseph Odhiambo over six rounds, but when Odhiambo pulled out Oyola was quick to accept the challenge. After fighting to a draw in 2000, Ngandu has now won three consecutive times against Oyola, and consequently there should be no doubt that he is the superior boxer of the two.
After cancellation of the Akhasamba and Nzau bouts, WBF Intercontinental super featherweight champion David “Silent Danger” Kiilu and his opponent Ronald Maina was elevated to co-feature status, and the bout increased from six to eight rounds. Kiilu, determined to return to winning ways after loosing a WBF world title shot last month, asserted himself from the start, and finally knocked out Maina after two minutes of the second round. Kiilu connected with a strong left lead, and Maina went down for the full ten-count. The looser had to be carried back to his corner, but later fully recovered. In reality, this bout looked like a mismatch from the start, but Maina was a very respected amateur on the Kenyan club circuit, and was expected to at least extend Kiilu further than he did.
The main event, a six-rounder at light heavyweight, was another chapter in the progress of slick-boxing Samson “The Hammer” Onyango, who got valuable rounds of experience under his belt against cagey ring-veteran Lucas Omondi. Onyango, who is managed by Denmark-based Risum Boxing, boxed cleverly, and had too much skill for the experienced Omondi, who have seen better days in the ring and hardly laid a glove on his foe. The decision was unanimous: 60-54, 60-54, 60-54, and Onyango remains unbeaten after seven fights.
“I am pleased with this result for Sam, and it is good for his progress that he got the opportunity to go the full six rounds. After another six-rounder, I plan to have him box eight rounds at least once before letting him fight for the Kenyan national title” explained a satisfied manager Risum after the final bell.