PuraVida Sports

Having navigated through the first challenge on the opening day of the 2025 IBA Men’s World
Boxing Championships here, Kenya’s experienced bantamweight Shaffi Bakari has several balls
up in the air in a delicate juggling act he hopes will eventually land Kenya on the podium.
From visa-delayed travel to challenging weather conditions and relatively unknown opponents,
Bakari and Kenya’s “Hit Squad” hope to defy the odds and get a slice of the huge cash awards
on offer at these championships.

And fighting in the Round of 64 on the opening night session of Day One at the Dubai Duty Free
Tennis Stadium, 32-year-old policeman Bakari made his experience count by dominating
Ethiopia’s Dawd Zekerya Kedir 5-0 in a clash of East African nations traditionally celebrated for
their endless contests on distance running tracks and marathon courses, rather than in the
boxing ring.

In the first of three rounds, Dawd appeared incoherent, unable to make his Rift Valley altitude
endurance and strength count for anything with wayward attacks that Bakari countered
efficiently by scoring points, taking the round unanimously 5-0.

Dawd came in more aggressively in the second round needing a match-saving performance but
was untidy with coach Benjamin Musa and David Munuhe, in the Kenyan blue corner, guiding
Bakari to safety with an unassailable points lead that he only needed to sustain in the third
round to get home and dry.

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Event Gallery | PHOTOS: Courtesy

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Uplifting result for ‘Hit Squad’

It was an uplifting result for the “Hit Squad” that had earlier seen heavyweight Peter Abuti fall
to Bakyt Ululu Toktosun of Kyrgyzstan 4-1 in a Round of 32 clash in the day’s opening session.
“I’d like to thank God for protecting us on our journey to Dubai and for keeping us in good
health, and the coaches for preparing us well mentally, physically and tactically to take on any
opponent that comes our way,” Bakari, a late call-up to the team replacing soldier David
Muthama, gave thanks.

“Two of us were in the ring to open the tournament though it’s bad luck that my teammate
(Abuti) lost his opening fight, though we can’t really say it’s bad luck because in sport, there
must be a winner and loser.

“I’m happy to have started on a winning note. My opponent wasn’t easy, because he had also
prepared well and he also prayed to God for a win, but I outwitted him, thanks to the tips that
the coaches gave.”

Bakari confessed he didn’t know much about Dawd, but gave credit to the “Hit Squad”
tacticians for digging up the info: “We have qualified tacticians who know their work well…
They have prepared us mentally and physically, because when you get into (amateur)
competitions like this one, you may not have enough info on your opponent. It’s not like the
pro fights where you can study your opponent. Here you expect anything and we have been
prepared for this.”

He agreed that his experience came in handy: “I outwitted him and got good tips from the
coaches because physically he was stronger than me and I just had to strategically pick up the
points and that’s how I won.”

Training hard and setting himself targets has kept Bakari in the ring as the most experienced
“Hit Squad” member.

Hot and humid Dubai

“I know I haven’t reached many of my goals and I need to push myself to keep my dreams alive.
I believe I’m still young, I’m still strong and I can fight to achieve my targets, and that’s what
keeps me going.”

Fighting in the traditionally hot and humid Dubai has its own peculiar challenges, something
Bakari and co are alive to, despite the temperatures having dipped to a high of 28 degrees and
humidity levels around 72 percent.

“The air here is very humid – just like Mombasa but more humid – and it makes you sweat easily
and the more you sweat the more you lose energy.

“We also came into Dubai late (Tuesday night) but with the little time we have had here, we
have had to acclimatize and hydrate which is a challenge because for us to stay in the right
weight, we must dehydrate and then after weighing-in take in lots of fluids which again
increases the weight… there are many challenges.”

Through to the round of 32, Bakari will now face Spain’s top seed in the bantamweight Rafael
Lozano Serrano on Saturday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium more famous for hosting
Serrano’s namesake and tennis legend Rafael Nadal than for boxing contests.

Serrano, given a bye into the Round of 32 thanks to his superior ranking, is a silver medalist
from the World Boxing organisation’s version of the World Championships held last September
in Liverpool where he lost in the final to Kazakhstan’s Makhmud Sabyrkhan.

Earlier, despite Abuti’s opening fight loss, coach Musa Benjamin was comforted by the fact that
the gulf between Kenya and the global best had fast narrowed with Kenyan fighters only
seriously requiring ring experience through regular competitions.

In his analysis, coach Musa observed that Abuti ought to have been more aggressive and
shouldn’t have given Toktosun undue respect.

“Abuti came into the party late. He showed his opponent too much respect in the first half,
while we really wanted him to harass the opponent.

“We knew Toktosun is a very slow starter, but Abuti played into Toktosun’s hands, falling into
his opponent’s slow-paced start which made the opponent look more competitive to take the
first round (4-1).

‘Fighting a southpaw confused me’

“The second round was 50-50, certainly not 4-1 as the judges scored it… But Abuti just came
into the party late…”

Observations the Kenya Defence Forces fighter endorses while also conceding that taking on a
southpaw (fighter who stands with their right foot and right hand forward, in contrast to the
more common orthodox stance) opponent was tricky.

“Fighting against a southpaw confused me a little bit… The coaches urged me to pick up in the
second round, but fighting against a southpaw was a bit of challenge,” Abuti reacted.

“I really can’t say that I’m happy with, or I’m disappointed by my performance today. It’s a 50-
50 feeling… Generally, I was slow and lack of aggression let me down quite a bit. I’m now going
back to the drawing board and study how to fight a southpaw opponent because in many of my
fights, I have come up against orthodox fighters.”

There will be five “Hit Squad” boxers in Friday’s action with National Police Service pugilists
from either end of the weighing scale – Silas Onyango (minimumweight) and Clinton Macharia
(super heavyweight) – up against Sri Lanka’s Danil Hasika Tissaaratchy and Belarusian
Smiahlikau Uladzislau, respectively, in the day’s first session.

The championship’s finals will be fought on December 13 with each gold medalist banking a
massive winner’s cheque of $300,000 (Sh38.8 million).

Kenya’s results and schedule for the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships at the Dubai
Duty Free Tennis Stadium:

Thursday, December 4 results:

• Heavyweight, 86-92kg: Peter Abuti lost to Bakyt Ululu Toktosun (Kyrgyzstan) 4-1;
• Bantamweight, 51-54kgs: Shaffi Bakari beat Dawd Zekerya Kedir (Ethiopia) 5-0;

Friday (December 5) “Hit Squad” schedule:

• Super heavyweight, 92kgs plus: Clinton Macharia vs Smiahlikau Uladzislau (Belarus) –
  5pm – Ring A;
• Minimumweight, 46-48kgs: Silas Onyango vs Danil Hasika Tissaaratchy (Sri Lanka) – 5pm
  – Ring B;
• Light heavyweight, 75-80kgs: Robert Okaka vs Vinogradov Anton (Estonia) – 9pm – Ring
  A;
• Cruiserweight, 80-86kg: Chrispine Ochanda vs Andrei Chiriakov (Moldova) – 9pm – Ring
  A;
• Welterweight, 63.5-67kgs: Wiseman Kavondo vs Hovhannes Bachkov (Armenia) – 9pm –
  Ring B; 

Saturday (December 6 “Hit Squad” schedule:

• Lightweight, 57-60kgs: Washington Wandera Wabwire vs Fahad Mulindwa (Uganda) –
  9pm – Ring B;
• Middleweight, 71-75kgs: Edwin Okongo, seeded 4 th (bye) to face preliminary round
  winner between Kapuler Ishchenko Miroslav (Israel) or Talaka Osward (Solomon Islands)
  – 5pm – Ring B;
• Flyweight, 48-51kgs: Kelvin Maina Michira vs Daniyal Sabit (Kazakhstan) – 9pm – Ring A;

Sunday, December 7:

• Light welter, 60-63.5kgs: Caleb Wandera vs Lucas Mariano Villalba (Argentina) – 5pm –
  Ring A;
• Featherweight, 54-57kgs: Paul Omondi Onguku vs Ahmed Alkoum (Libya) – 5pm – Ring
  B;
• Light Middleweight, 67-71kgs: Boniface Mogunde vs Sarkan Aliyev (Azerbaijan) – 9pm –
• Ring B;