Okwiri closes in on Olympic berth

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.

“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