For nearly five years, Friends of Boxing has been impacting boxing in somehow subtle ways, but the non-profit organisation is now throwing total chaos into the ring to change Ugandan boxing in unprecedented ways.
‘When I ask you to mention the best five boxing fights in Uganda recently, you will mention Shakib vs Rickman, Shakib vs. Barista Timo, but why not real boxers? Frank Lulinda, FOB’s head of marketing and development, challenged the audience of boxers, trainers, and promoters during a brief with Uganda Professional Boxing Commission (UPBC) inside Madhvani Hall at the UMA Show Grounds, in Lugogo on May 29.
Why aren’t our boxers winning as they should? Why don’t they get the visibility they deserve? Lulinda further asked, important questions that inspired FOB’s two-year partnership with UPBC.
‘We want to ensure that a professional boxer has different trainers: a fitness trainer, a nutritionist, a physiotherapist-though many cannot afford even one,’ he added.
Lucrative belt
The deal, UPBC president Eddie Bazira promised, will afford boxers financial literacy and health insurance, among others. But no promise excited boxers more than the FOB Championship Belt, where the winner will bag Shs6m. And the loser, a generous Shs2.5m ‘to at least compensate for his or her sweat during training and all the preps,’ Lulinda announced.
What’s more, it will not be just one. They will be belts across all weight divisions. ‘Wow! Unless I’m bewitched, I must win one of those belts,’ one professional boxer exclaimed from the audience, smiling like a toddler seeing an ice cream corn. ‘Weight isn’t my problem. I need a few weeks to switch from one weight division to another.’
Another said: ‘I have never fought for even Shs3m. So, I feel like I have already started training for the title fight. And for the money.’
UPBC will sanction the titles, and only ranked fighters will vie for them.
‘If Uganda has talent, as we all believe, we must invest in it. And it must shine,’ Lulinda asserted, triggering optimism that has not been seen in boxing circles recently.
The UMA event was itself classy, with most clad in immaculate white polo shirts with FOB logos. The lighting was equally good, and few, except the chief guest, Michael Mawanda, of the Patriotic League of Uganda, complained about the high temperatures inside the hall. The attendance was good, the dinner sumptuous.
Amid the boxers’ excitement, Twaha Kimbugwe, a promoter, wanted to know how promoters would benefit from this arrangement.
Once a promoter announces an event, Lulinda said, FOB will take over the duties of marketing the event, under an agreement over the revenue sharing. That is relief.
Fighters in the mood
‘It’s been long since I last fought in Uganda. I have been fighting in Kenya. But I will soon be fighting home again,’ Catherine Nanziri, a former ABU champion, unbeaten in eight fights, announced.
Nanziri, who is also the FOB ambassador, clarified that FOB is not a commission, ‘We are just boxing. We want to transform lives through boxing. That’s why our training sessions entertain amateur and professional boxers.’
Frank Kiwalabye, who has won 21 of his 24 fights, commended UPBC for sustaining pro boxing ‘even before we joined.’
‘And now that UPBC has brought on board a partner who is putting a tangible purse on a title fight, is great. I have seen it in other countries. If I get Shs6m in one fight, plus more from my sponsors, then I can prepare better for title fights abroad,’ Kiwalabye said. ‘So, whoever is trying to threaten FOB is doing a huge disservice to boxing.’
Joseph Lubega, aka Joe Vegas, may be soon saying goodbye. But the former ABU and WBC-International light heavyweight champion said many boxers spend more in training than what they get paid for fights. ‘Some get just Shs150,000-Shs200,000 for fights, which doesn’t make sense. But if you get Shs6m after training for three months, that’s amazing. Now all a boxer needs is focus, train well, rest, and have discipline.’
Walking the talk
Even before FOB came out of its shell, its work is evident. Since 2021-
as the world rose from Covid-19 and its dire disruptions, FOB has held more than 12 fight nights and over 50 sparring sessions in different ghetto communities, attracting the least known of boxers and renowned ones like Tokyo 2020 Olympians Shadir Musa Bwogi and Nanziri, Glasgow-bound Alfred Ojok, among others.
FOB promises to be ‘in every boxer’s corner,’ using boxing to empower at-risk youth, build community, and fight for a better future in Kampala.
‘The few times I have worked with them, I felt valued,’ one coach spoke anonymously to avoid penalties from UBF. ‘They approach you nicely, and they give you something at the end of the day. Other donors only focus on boxers and forget the coaches.’
During the launch of the two-year partnership at Eureka Place, Ntinda, on May 15, Lulinda said: ‘We want to set up proper structures. A Ugandan boxer should expect support, sponsorship, good trainers and coaches, and the limelight for their work.’
Threats, bans, and the law
Some, if not all, of these proposals sound like lines picked from Moses Muhangi’s script. In his early days as Uganda Boxing Federation (UBF) president, Muhangi took boxers to donate blood at military barracks, to charity runs, and to anti-HIV/AIDS campaigns, to rebrand boxing and endear it to the public.
But eight years later, he seems to have slowed down, with the bi-weekly Uganda Boxing Champions League his only consistent project since late 2021.
Now FOB wants to fill that yawning gap. They insist they are not a commission, but even before they register with the National Council of Sports, UBF sees them as rivals. And their biggest sin is partnering with the ‘wrong people’-UPBC.
Lulinda said FOB is open to working with any leadership that welcomes them. ‘UPBC warmly welcomed us, and we are proud to work with them.’
But UBF responded with venom. Abdul Tebazaalwa, a member of the UBF licensing commission, in an audio circulated on WhatsApp groups, warned that ‘any boxer, coach, club or ring official who associates with FOB will automatically be banned by UBF…because Friends of Boxing are enemies of boxing.’ Two weeks later, Muhangi amplified that warning, asking members to shun the FOB-UPBC dinner at Lugogo. He later thanked them for heeding our message.’
Interestingly, though, one of the senior boxers attended the ‘illegal dinner,’ and hours later, he fought on a UBF-sanctioned event.
Kiwalabye and his promoter, whose event was sanctioned by UBF last year, both enjoyed the ‘illegal’ FOB-UPBC dinner and the FOB open training session, which attracted boxers-young, old, amateur, professional, active, retired-coaches, ring officials, fans, promoters, and administrators at Panamera Bar in Naguru on June 13. Now, warnings became bans: ‘Whoever attended this illegal event when he or she’s a boxer in the Champions League, he or she’s automatically out of the Champions League,’ UBF declared, accusing participants of violating the UBF code of conduct. ‘Coaches who were there, their certificates are no longer working, whether at the entrance or the field of play.’
In an April 9 letter, the National Council of Sports declared its recognition of UBF as the sole entity responsible for managing boxing in Uganda and that whoever seeks to organise any boxing event should seek UBF clearance. The letter further requested the UBF president to liaise with the police ‘for enforcement of this directive in case of any further challenge.’
Against that background, UBF threatened to raid the event and arrest the participants. But UPBC challenges the NCS letter as misleading and undermining the sports minister’s recommendations guiding UPBC and UBF into forming a single body, as the National Sports Act, 2023 dictates.
Bazira thus assured all potential victims that no one will arrest or ban them, because attending ‘a boxing training session is not a crime.’ Muhangi has a record of banning critics and dissidents. But how serious will he be against FOB, which also pays school fees for some boxers? Must those boxers or their parents denounce FOB and lose out on the school fees? Or should they stick with FOB against UBF and be denied a sporting chance? It’s a serious dilemma.
Enemy within
Yet Muhangi or UBF may not be the only enemy to the FOB-UPBC agenda.
UPBC and FOB must also be ready for internal fights among promoters over which boxer should fight for the lucrative title. Bout results may also be swung in some boxers’ favour. But isn’t it better for orphans to fight over gold than over nothing?