1964 Dominant Egypt retains title at African Boxing Championships

PHOTO: Kenya's Minister of Labour and Social Services, whose portfolio included sports, Ngala Mwendwa (foreground) and his secretary general Mr Ndisi admire the gold and silver medals of Philip Waruinge and John Olulu on their return from Accra.

• Ghana finishes second but shares Nkrumah Shield with Egypt
• Waruinge steals the show as Kenya and Uganda win their first gold medals at the second African tournament hosted by Ghana in 1964

Egypt and Ghana maintained their dominance in the second African Boxing Championship held at the National Stadium in 1964 in Accra, Ghana.

The Egyptians retained the overall position by winning the President Nasser Cup for the second consecutive time after clinching first place at the inaugural tournament in Cairo in 1962.

Egypt – then known as the United Arab Republic – won three gold, three silver and three bronze medals, with Ghana winning three gold, two silver and three bronze. The two countries shared the Nkrumah Shield for winning three gold medals each.

The fragmentary information available that I have managed to scrape together due to Africa's neglect in maintaining proper records and statistics of their past boxing tournaments, shows that Egypt's three gold medals came from flyweight Mahmoud Hamza, lightweight Fawzi Hassan Suleiman and welterweight Hussein Saddik while light welterweight Eddie Blay, light middleweight Eddie Davies and middleweight Joe Darkey won Ghana's three gold medals with Blay, one of Ghana's finest boxers of the time, retaining the light welterweight title by outclassing the stubborn John Olulu of Kenya on points in the final.

Kenya's Philip Waruinge and 1962 Commonwealth Games heavyweight champion George Oywello made their presence felt by winning the first gold medals for the two East African countries at the African Championships. Waruinge, who was short-armed, narrowly beat Egypt's Bedawi el Bedawi – using his left arm after injuring his right – in the featherweight division and Oywello stopped reigning heavyweight champion Tewfi Mazher of Egypt in the second round. Light-middleweight Domisiano Ochodomuge and middleweight Peter Odhiambo won Uganda's two silver medals.

With one gold, two silver and three bronze medals, Uganda eclipsed Kenya in the battle for bragging rights between the two East African countries.

Uganda was represented by 10 boxers and Kenya by three, the third being welterweight Mwangi Mugo who lost to Uganda's 1962 African Championship silver medallist Powell Mabwa. In Accra, Mabwa settled for a bronze medal in the welterweight category.

Waruinge received a standing ovation from the crowd after his display of talent in the final.

He caught the eye of Nigeria's former world featherweight champion Hogan "Kid" Bassey, who wanted the Kenyan fighter to turn professional. Waruinge was a product of the Nakuru Amateur Boxing Club under Irish coach Maxie McCullough, Olulu and Mugo were students of coach Freddie Webb at Pumwani Boxing Club, but by then Mugo had joined Kenya's prisons.

Nigeria's bantamweight Karimu Young and Benin's light heavyweight Expedit Montcho won the other two gold medals in the 10 weight categories contested in Accra, from flyweight to heavyweight. The light flyweight slot was introduced at the third African Boxing Championships held in 1966 in Lagos, Nigeria.

John Nene
CEO NENEZ MEDIA SERVICES