Mwakinyo starts training in UK ahead of next month bout in Kenya
Dar es Salaam. Africa’s number one super welterweight boxer, Hassan Mwakinyo, has arrived in Liverpool, the United Kingdom (UK), ahead of the Nairobi Fight Night scheduled to be held on March 23 in Kenya.
Mwakinyo, who is ranked 16th in accordance with the famous professional boxing website dedicated to holding records of professional boxers, will fight against his opponent, who is to be named later.
Mwakinyo has an impressive record of winning 24 bouts, out of which 10 by knockouts and losing two, one by knockout.
The boxer will be under famous professional boxer Tony Bellew’s trainer. Bellew gained prominence in the game after registering two Technical Knockout (TKO) wins against David Haye.
The camp also includes Kenyan prominent women’s professional boxer, Fatuma “Iron Fist” Zarik,a who is the current World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Bantamweight Champion.
Zarika will fight against Zambia’s Catherine Phiri. The two boxers fought in Kenya on December 2, 2017 and Zarika won the bout.
Mwakinyo and Zarika are scheduled to return to Nairobi on March 16, a week before their bouts that will be the main fights of this year’s Nairobi Fight Night. The two boxers are under the sponsorship of the leading sports gaming firm, SportPesa.
“I would like to thank SportPesa for sponsoring and enabling me to camp in the UK ahead of Kenya’s fight. I am very happy to get the chance and I am sure my trainers will sharpen my fighting skills,” said Mwakinyo.
For her part, Zarika promised to do the best in the rematch fight against Phiri. “My previous bout against Phiri was challenging one, I do not underrate my opponent and I expect a tougher match this time round,” said Zarika.
SportPesa Director of Administration and Compliance Tarimba Abbas urged Mwakinyo and Zarika to use the valuable opportunity to polish their skills ahead of their next fights.
Abbas said SportPesa is very proud of contributing to sports development in the country and believes the two boxers will maintain their statuses in their careers.
“The two professional boxers are serious about the game apart from being talented. We have put a lot of resources behind them to ensure that they get back from the UK ready for their matches,” said Abbas.
Abbas urged the boxing fans in the East African regions to throw their weight behind the two professional boxers and prepare to turn up in large numbers in Nairobi for the biggest annual boxing event. The venue for the Nairobi Fight Night will be announced later.
