Kickboxer Ronald Mugula beaten by Egyptian

By Johnson Were

ENTEBBE Road - Ugandan kickboxer Ronald Mugula failed to shine in a highly anticipated world intercontinental welterweight fight on New Year’s Day at Freedom City in Namasuba.

Many fans had expected the Ugandan fighter to beat his visiting Egyptian opponent.

But he went on to lose the global kick-boxing championship belt to Abdallah Hessen in a fight that ended at 3.00am local time (EAT) on Thursday.

Mugula insisted that by international standards, he was the rightful winner of a match that realized a huge turn up of local fans.

“I gave him a count in the first round and as in the international standards I was meant to win but if the referees have decided so I have to go with the decision,” he said moments after the late-night encounter.

Before the match, he had promised his fans he would knock out his challenger.

But that was far from the battle on the ground as the Ugandan struggled to match the verve and determination of Hessen in all the four rounds.

By a 2-1 referees’ decision, Mugula lost by four points as the referee scorecards indicated  48-46,48-45 and 45-49 points, totaling to 144 and 140 points for Hessen and Mugula respectively.

Upon victory, Hessen said the referees were neutral and right in their ultimate decision.

“It was a tough fight but am glad I won and the referees were fair to both sides,” he said through his interpreter.

No 'focus'

Rozman Istvan, the world kick-boxing official that supervised the fight, said Mugula lost because he lacked focus.

“He is a very good fighter, but today he was not focused on scoring points and to me that is why he lost,” said Istvan.

In his previous encounters, Mugula has defeated Romanian Elek Janos at Kyadondo Rugby Ground before silencing Hungarian fighter, Andras Nagy (RIP) to win the title he lost to Hessen.

His record stands at 63 fights with 45 wins, 12 losses while his Egyptian opponent's record in 30 fights stands at 23 wins and seven losses.