Golola takes belt but not decision

The next time you see Moses Golola, he will probably say ‘I am the only the man to win a fight with less points than my opponent’. And this time, Uganda’s kickboxing king would not be joking.

 

Because Friday night at Hotel Africana, Kampala, Golola was awarded the World Kickboxing Intercontinental title after a bruising five rounds against Hungary’s Andras Nagy that ended with the master of ceremonies and match referee declaring different winners.

 

Golola was declared winner after the fight by master of ceremonies Roger Mugisha, who read a unanimous judges’ decision in favour of the local hero. According to the results Mugisha read, each of the three judges gave the fight to Golola by 49-46.

 

But no sooner had the pronouncement left Mugisha’s lips than match referee Fritz Exenberger grabbed the microphone and piece of paper from the MC’s hands.

 

Exenberger then said: “Those were the wrong results. The winner is the blue corner (Nagy)”.

 

The results were not shown to the media for clarity as Exenberger immediately put them in an envelope. One of the three judges attempted to clarify the confusion but his message stopped short of declaring Nagy the winner.

 

“If Golola wants to have a future in this sport, he should accept the results,” the judge from South Sudan said.

 

Golola’s future looked rosy before the fight. A national sensation, whose fast mouth has won him legions of fans over the past year or so, Golola entered the ring with a following unrivalled by any other Ugandan sports personality.

 

People were still paying to get into Africana at 11pm and when the crowd grew to the extremes, the organisers were forced to do the un-Ugandan thing of turning away money. The ones fortunate to get inside, endured a raft of undercard fights that did their best to play the appetiser role.

 

The main course started 30 minutes to midnight. Golola, having kept his fans waiting, made a grand entrance. The fighter danced his way to the ring, to his own song with rapper Navio. An African champion, national celebrity and now a musician, surely things would only get better for Golola.

 

Nagy wasn’t aware.

 

The Hungarian underlined his intentions with a lightening fast spin-kick that connected with Golola’s chin two minutes into the fight. In that moment something must have told Golola this would be harder than kicking the Nile out of Uganda.

 

Golola swallowed the pain and kept on the hunt. One minute into the second round, Golola went for the audacious under-sweep kick and missed. He ended flat on his back. He immediately recovered with a left-right combination that sent Nagy to the ropes.

 

Slowly but surely, though, Nagy showed the superior technique – displaying better use of his entire arsenal, especially knees and elbows. Golola had little outside the left hook, which he swung continuously desperately as the fight wore on.

 

Nagy had predicted that only a fortunate punch could stop him and Golola did everything to confirm his suspicions as he kept on looking for the killer blow. He appeared to have found it in the fourth round when he sent Nagy to the canvas with a nasty left hook.

 

But Nagy bounced right back, something that is always easier to do when you are in the lead. Nagy had already given Golola a bloody nose and cut to the right eye. He wasn’t about to surrender now.

 

The fifth round came and went without the knock out that Golola needed to change the tide of what had been a brutal contest for both fighters. And it was then left to the judges. And as it turned out the referee and MC.