Kenya Prisons high flying boxer Rayton Okwiri is on the verge of
becoming the first Kenyan to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro 2016
Olympics Games after he out-pointed Andrey Zamkovoy in their Amateur
Professional Boxing (APB) series welterweight fight.
In
the Saturday night clash sponsored by Amateur International Boxing
Association (Aiba), the hard-hitting Okwiri sent his Russian opponent to
the ropes with damaging hooks in a thrilling contest held at Baku,
Azerbaijan.
According to his coaches Patrick Maina and
John Waweru, Okwiri showed early signs of finishing the contest by
attacking his opponent from the first bell.
The three judges declared Okwiri the winner with a unanimous 3-0 verdict.
“It
was simply Okwiri’s day and if he maintains the trend come January when
he faces his final opponent he should be the first Kenyan to book a
ticket for the 2016 Olympics Games in Brazil,” said an elated Waweru.
TRAINING WELL
Before meeting Okwiri the Russian had advanced after beating his next door neighbour Denys Lazarev of Ukraine while Okwiri registered his first victory in the series when he demolished Marco Nader of Australia last month.
Before meeting Okwiri the Russian had advanced after beating his next door neighbour Denys Lazarev of Ukraine while Okwiri registered his first victory in the series when he demolished Marco Nader of Australia last month.
“Okwiri simply followed our instructions from
round one and that helped him to corner his opponent with accurate
punches on the face and stomach,” said Maina.
Maina
pointed out that since they arrived in Baku a week ago, Okwiri had been
responding well to training and had assured them that he will not let
Kenyans down.
Following his sweet victory Okwiri has
now remained with one fight. He is expected to climb onto the ring in
January 2015. If he wins then he will be declared the APB welter weight
champion besides getting a direct ticket to Rio de Janeiro Olympics
Games in Brazil in 2016.
“It’s our sincere hope that
Okwiri will keep the Kenyan flag flying high come January,” said coach
Waweru Another boxer Benson Njagiru Gicharu of Kenya Police, who is
fighting in the bantamweight category, has won one fight and lost the
second contest.
NO WIN
Gicharu is expected to fight on January 15 in Buenos Aires, Argentina against Selcuk Eker of Turkey.
Kenya
Defence Forces boxer Nick Abaka is the only Kenyan pugilist in the
series who has not registered a single win so far and time is rapidly
running out for him.
Kenya was represented by one boxer at the 2012 London Olympic Games
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