Ayub Kalule Boxing Championship

Saturday, November, 11th

Club Obligato

L.Muwonge (UGA) v I.Odhiambo (KEN)

J.Nyanzi (UGA) v A.Ngage (TZ)

H.Kasujja (UGA) v C.Cheka (TZ)

S.Male (UGA) v .Mbelwa (TZ)

Reigning ABU Africa lightweight champion Latibu ‘Dancing Master’ Muwonge, Dubai-based Joshua Nyanzi, and new kid on block Henry Kasujja ‘Stopper’ headline the inaugural Ayub Kalule Boxing Championship.

The championship that will be organised annually is slated for this Saturday, November 11 at Club Obligato in Kampala with 10 boxing thrillers lined up for the day.

Organised by 12 sports rounds, the championship is in commemoration of Ayub Kalule, a Ugandan boxing legend.

Speaking to Vision Sport, Kalule, a former world champion is delighted about this initiative that he thinks may not stop only on him but to cut across other living boxing legends.

“In Africa, we normally celebrate the dead. I’m delighted that Uganda boxing fraternity has decided to honour me while I’m still alive,” Kalule noted.

“It is a good gesture to me and I am really happy there still exist some people who can appreciate what I have done for my country.”

Nicknamed ‘Gentleman’ by his peers, Kalule was not gentle at all during his days.

He is globally ranked one of the best middleweights of the 70s and 80s the ring has ever graced.

A southpaw-stanced boxer, Kalule won a mammoth 37 consecutive professional fights without tasting defeat before being knocked out in the 9th round by America’s legendary Sugar ‘Ray’ Leonard in 1981.

Of the 50 professional fights on his name, he won a record 46, 23 of them by knockouts with only four defeats.

An electric hard punch, Kalule is a WBA (World Boxing Association) light middleweight world champion.

The soft-spoken fighter is the first African to win a world boxing gold medal a record he set during the 1974 inaugural world championship in Havana, Cuba.

Of the over ten lined-up thrillers for the day, ‘Dancing Master’ Muwonge battles Kenya’s Ibrahim Odhiambo in a welterweight contest.

Muwonge, the reigning ABU Africa Super lightweight champion is eager to dedicate his victory to Kalule.

“Being lined up to fight on Ayub Kalule’s show is enough for me. But I have to go an extra mile to thump this Kenyan and dedicate my victory to our legend”

“I’m more than ready for this fight, so my fans must expect fireworks from me”

In the main fight, Dubai-based welterweight Joshua Nyanzi ‘Spider’ takes on Tanzania’s Adam Ngage, middleweight Henry Kasujja ‘Stopper’ battles Tanzania’s Cosmas Cheka as Light heavyweight Saul ‘Bad Intentions’ Male tussles it out with Tanzania’s Saidi Mbelwa.

Stephen Sembuya, the event organizer revealed they intend to use this championship to solicit funds that will always go back to Kalule’s family to enable him to make ends meet.