Talk about a grueling fight. With a capital E. And not just for the two fighters but for the referee, the judges and the audience. Some fight fans, as well as avid readers of the Guinness Book of World Records, may be familiar with the names Andy Bowen and Jack Burke, just as they may be familiar with the date April 6, 1893.

Because it was on this day, more than 130 years ago, that Burke and Bowen engaged in what is listed as the longest recorded glove fight in boxing history. The two men met in Bowen’s hometown of New Orleans, and the fight began at 9:15 that night, with legal violence lasting, unimaginably, until 4:34 the next morning. None of those who entered the Olympic Club arena would ever leave the same.

The two boxers, fighting for the Southern lightweight title and a whopping purse of $2,500 at the time, were in for a hell unlike any modern boxer. Reports vary (and no wonder), but the fight is said to have been a riveting affair for a while. For a long time, in fact. For about 30 rounds (!), the fight on Royal Street was a riveting affair. Both men went down, both men went down, while Texan Burke opened a gash above one of Bowen's eyes. Bowen, the older man by a year at 25, was the more experienced boxer, and of course, he was boxing on home turf.

The large crowd, which had paid an admission fee of $1 or $3, and numbered a record 11,000, enjoyed the spectacle (according to some accounts, the actual number is again difficult to determine). For a while.

By the 30th round, as the pace of the fight inevitably slowed, the fans grew impatient. Soon, the only three people interested in the fight seemed to be the two warriors and the referee. Some fans had fallen asleep, the historical significance of the boxing match having been lost sight of for most in attendance.

But the fight was brutal in other ways, not just because it was far too long, ridiculously long, inhumane. Burke was nearly knocked out in the 48th round (!), while also suffering the disgusting pain of two forearms that were supposedly doubled in size. Additionally, both of Burke's hands were broken. According to reports, a piece of bone was protruding from Burke's hand. Yet he kept fighting, refusing to do what many members of the paying audience had done and quit.

At this point Bowen could have given up, the fight being offered to him as a draw, the purse being split in half. But Bowen refused and the fight continued. Burke's hands were said to have been injected with cocaine at this point.

Burke, a smart boxer who must have had nothing but an incredible fighter's heart and an insane pain tolerance, hesitated and feinted and slipped punches as he sought to run the clock seemingly to infinity. Bowen failed to land a significant blow. The fight went on and on. By round 93 (!), the referee was exhausted and had to be replaced. Still, the two fighters kept fighting.

In round 105—yes, round 105—Bowen went down after missing a punch, the momentum sending him crashing into his opponent’s elbow, jaw first. The fighter, battered and broken, went down. But only to get back up! Fortunately, the fight was finally stopped after the 110th round ended. Neither man had anything left to fight with, and the officials finally did what they should have done a long time ago, long ago, and that was to stop the fight.

And in the end, who won?

Neither man did, the fight ended in a draw. At dawn, after the wildest nights of fighting ever, both incredibly tired fighters were taken home, Burke in much worse physical condition than Bowen. In fact, Bowen had enough strength to scream that he had been robbed. Bowen was certainly much less banged up than Burke.

Reports indicate that Burke suffered the following problems: two broken hands, swollen forearms, a swollen stomach, swollen eyes and ears, and severe welts on his side and back. Burke was bedridden for weeks after the fight, while Bowen surprisingly had no marks other than the cut above his eye that he had suffered many hours before.

Of course, no fight should have lasted as long as this one and the lesson was learned. But the two men continued to fight.

Bowen died tragically in 1894, after hitting his head on an uncovered floor in the 18th round of another war. Burke died of a heart attack in 1913.

Together, these two incredibly courageous fighters occupy a unique, if not untouchable, place in boxing history.

Source: Recalling The Longest Fight In Boxing History – 110 Rounds, Fought Over 7 Hours And 19 Minutes – Latest Boxing News

Photo: Ghana's first Olympic medallist, Clement Quartey (left), in action at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome where he won silver. Quartey was one of four Ghanaian gold medallists at the first African Boxing Championships in 1962 in Cairo, Egypt.

• Both countries won four gold medals in the hard-fought final in Cairo in 1962.
• Nigeria finished third as Kenya won the battle for East African glory rights against Uganda

The first African Boxing Championships in 1962 in Cairo proved to be a two-horse race between host countries Egypt and Ghana, the two dominant boxing nations in Africa at the time.

With five boxers each in the final, Egypt and Ghana fought a fierce battle; but the hosts had the last laugh by edging out Ghana with one more bronze medal than Ghana.

This result is, however, subject to verification by boxing historians.

The final medal table shows both countries finishing with four golds, one silver and two bronzes, but when I cross-referenced the bronze medals in my archives, I noticed that Ghana had one bronze and not two as indicated on the final medal table. Ghana's bronze came from welterweight Joe Darkey who lost to Uganda's Powell Mabwa in the semi-finals. And on points, it shows that Egypt and Ghana are tied with 25 each.

Egypt's four gold medals were won by bantamweight Abdel Moneim el-Gundi, welterweight Sayed el-Nahas, super welterweight Hussein Saddik and heavyweight James Marzhar.

Ghana's four gold medals came from lightweight Eddie Blay, their first ever Olympic medallist Clement Quartey at super-lightweight who won a silver medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, middleweight Alhassan Brimah and light heavyweight Jojo Miles.

One of the major obstacles I face as a boxing historian researching African boxing is the inconsistency and incomplete information, especially on most of the past African championships.

This is an area largely ignored by African boxing leaders, unlike in Europe where they keep proper records and statistics of their past tournaments.

For example, at the inaugural African Championships in 1962, Kenya and Uganda were tied for eighth in the medal table with a silver each from Powell Mabwa and heavyweight Christian Opiyo of Mombasa, while Kenya won two bronze medals from bantamweight Mohammed Noor of Pumwani Boxing Club and featherweight Francis Gakungu of Railways Training School, but their bronze medals were not presented in the final medal table. Kenya's 17-year-old rising star Philip Waruinge lost to Uganda's Francis Kisseka in the flyweight division in the preliminaries.

Thus, Kenya won the battle for bragging rights in East Africa against Uganda by placing seventh with a silver and two bronze medals, Guinea eighth with a silver and a bronze medal while Uganda finished ninth with a silver medal ahead of Mali, tenth with a bronze medal.

Nigeria finished third at the 1962 African Boxing Championships with one gold, two silver and two bronze medals, followed by Sudan 1-1-2, Morocco 0-1-5, Tunisia sixth 0-1-3.

John Nene
CEO NENEZ MEDIA SERVICES

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

PHOTO: Napunyi, then campaigning in Tokyo, made a successful professional debut on September 1, 1981, defeating Japan's Fusao Imai (left) on points in a six-round bout.

Did you know that ring general Napunyi Oduori was the first Kenyan professional boxer to win a title on home soil when bare-chested wrestling was introduced in Kenya in 1983?

Napunyi and Isaiah Ikhoni turned professional in Japan in 1981.

After showing his mettle by winning the Japanese featherweight title by beating the stubborn Spider Nemoto on points, Napunyi, a childhood friend with whom we used to box together in prisons as juniors in the early 70s, returned home in 1982 and told me he would not return to Japan. He took me by surprise with his abrupt decision.

Curious, I asked him why he wanted to fight from home when he had more opportunities in Japan but he stuck to his guns. He was not happy with the treatment in Japan. I had no choice but to team up with a close friend to make it happen. As a family man, he also had to put food on the table since he had already resigned from Kenyan prisons and life was becoming difficult for him.

It was a difficult task for me but I took it in stride. At that time, there was no professional boxing in Kenya. So we decided to introduce professional boxing and find an opponent for Napunyi from outside. I then wrote a telegram to Emmanuel Mlundwa in Tanzania from Uniafrique House where Mogg Yoon, a Korean taekwondo instructor, had given me an office to work.

I was also struggling after losing my job at the Weekly Review/Nairobi Times and started Sports Review magazine with my Weekly Review colleague Benson Oduke. The Uniafrique office was our meeting base with Napunyi.

In my telegram to Mlundwa in 1982, I told him that Napunyi had decided to fight from Kenya and that he should therefore find him an opponent.

Mlundwa, one of Tanzania's top boxers, had already introduced professional boxing to his country in 1982 under the aegis of the Boxing Union of Tanzania (BUT). He responded positively to my telegram and from there we took action.

At that time, Steve Muchoki, Kenya's first and only amateur boxing world champion, was also back home and had similar plans of introducing professional boxing to Kenya. Talk about great minds thinking alike.

We all teamed up, joined among others by Joe Akech, former international boxers David Attan, Billy Kiremi and US-based Boniface Kahoro, with a common goal: to introduce professional boxing to Kenya.

In January 1983, the Kenya Professional Boxing Commission (KPBC) was launched at the former Ainsworth Hotel in Westlands. The hotel's owner, Francis Mburu, was chosen, at Muchoki's initiative, as the KPBC's patron and Joe Akech as its chairman, Boniface Kahoro as secretary general and Steve Muchoki as treasurer. Among the prominent boxers who attended the colourful ceremony was former Ugandan world champion Ayub Kalule, who was based in Nairobi.

Muchoki played a crucial role in introducing professional boxing to Kenya with his vast knowledge of the industry, having turned professional in 1979 in Denmark under influential promoter Mogens Palle. He brought in Mburu and Akech among others. The launch of the KPBC was the culmination of a series of brainstorming meetings held in boss Mburu’s office during which Muchoki made it clear that the introduction of professional boxing must be preceded by the establishment of a regulatory body.

With the launch and registration of the regulatory body KPBC, the stage was set for Kenya's first professional boxing card.

On 2 July 1983 at KICC, Napunyi won the East African super bantamweight title by knocking out Tanzanian Onesmo Ngowi in the third round in Kenya's first professional boxing card after independence.

Napunyi thus became the first professional boxer from Kenya to win a title on Kenyan soil. What a memorable day in Kenyan boxing history. We felt on top of the world after finally accomplishing our mission. I covered this historic day for the Kanu-owned Kenya Times newspaper and my friend Stephen Ongaro for the Daily Nation.

At the time, without a promoter, KPBC financed the first professional boxing show.

Mukkoki, George “Mosquito” Findo and the late Juma Kutondo all participated in support bouts against Tanzanian opponents. Findo and Kutondo made their professional boxing debuts on the 1983 card.

In October 1983, Muchoki, promoted by DS Njoroge, beat Zambian Flywell Botha on points to win the African flyweight title at KICC. DS staged another African title in 1984 at KICC in which Napunyi beat tough Nigerian southpaw Obele “Rastaman” Anazor on points to win the African super-bantamweight title in front of his father Mzee Joseph Oduori, mother Paulina and some of his siblings Sylvester Odhiambo, Philip, Anyash, Chauh and Knight.

DS Njoroge, the first promoter to be affiliated with KPBC, promoted the show spiced with its throbbing beats. He was also a music promoter.

Njoroge paved the way for other promoters to join the fray, including Chris Kamuyu who used professional boxing to venture into politics, Davlin Promotions owned by David Attan and his wife Linda, Level Two Promotions, Korean Kapsoo Kim and current KPBC chairman Reuben Ndolo who made a huge impact and was instrumental in bringing some of Kenya's top boxers to South Africa, including George "Kidi" Adipo, Moses Kinyua and David Kiilu.

Among the big fights promoted by Ndolo was Napunyi's Commonwealth featherweight title fight against Ghana's Oblittey Commey at City Hall. The elegant Napunyi, a lively counter-striker, beat Commey on points to become the second Kenyan professional boxer to win a Commonwealth title after Muchoki.

John Nene
CEO NENEZ MEDIA SERVICES