Gicharu: Critics messed my fight with army’s Meja

What you need to know:

  • He won the match on a 3-0 verdict to silence his critics, at least for now.
  • “You would be surprised the fight against Meja was probably one of the easiest for me out of the four times we have met,” said Gicharu.
  • “From the hype in the media, I also thought it would be the fight of the year, but it went according to my game plan which I executed by displaying superb footwork and putting my left jab to good use.”

As the dust settles down after last weekend’s trials and focus shifts to April’s Commonwealth Games in Australia, Olympian Benson Njagiru Gicharu now claims his qualification fight against soldier Isaac Meja was “messed by detractors outside the ring.”

The “Club” games will be held in Gold Coast from April 4 -15 and Gicharu booked a ticket to Kenya’s 10-man “Hit Squad” by outpointing Kenya Defence Forces man Meja.

Never has a local match generated so much interest in the recent past like the bantamweight clash between the two did.

After weeks of hype, many critics and fans alike were eager to know who between the two fighters would blink first in the trials dubbed “the Kaloleni war.”

“This match was hyped up beyond belief in the mainstream and social media, but in the end I had the last laugh,” said Gicharu in an interview with Nation Sport.

Pundits had all the reasons to speculate as these two boxers had enjoyed great form in the build-up.

Gicharu, who fights for the Kenya Police Service’s “Chafua Chafua” squad, is touted as one of the finest bantamweight boxers in Kenya.

But he expressed his respect for the fast-rising Meja who gate crashed his 10th anniversary in boxing party, defeated him in the fourth leg of SportPesa National League at Madison Square Garden in Nakuru last November. Prior to the surprise defeat, Gicharu had never lost in the local ring.

This surprise defeat set the stage for a revenge mission.

And Gicharu bounced back with a vengeance in the fifth leg in Mombasa. He beat his rival 2-1 in a controversial win that was the talk of boxing circles in the run-up to last weekend’s trials.

When the two boxers met at Nairobi’s Kaloleni Social Hall last weekend, Gicharu’s gutsy performance proved he was still the king of bantamweight in Kenya.

He won the match on a 3-0 verdict to silence his critics, at least for now. “You would be surprised the fight against Meja was probably one of the easiest for me out of the four times we have met,” said Gicharu.

“From the hype in the media, I also thought it would be the fight of the year, but it went according to my game plan which I executed by displaying superb footwork and putting my left jab to good use.”

He said the full healing of the rotate cap on his left shoulder after a long injury enabled him to swing with deadly hooks that earned him points particularly in the opening round.

He also attributed his victory to renewed confidence and agility that mesmerized his opponent.

The additional moral support he received was ringside from his wife, Hellen Ngugi, and his five-year-old daughter Olympiana Wanjeri.