Egypt won the 1968 Africa Boxing Championships by the skin of their teeth with Kenya breathing behind their neck in second position and Uganda claiming the third spot in Lusaka, Zambia, during the fourth edition of the continental tournament.
The Egyptians, winners of the inaugural Africa Championships which they hosted in 1962 and the second one in Ghana in 1964, finished with 13 points tying with Kenya on the same number of points but regained the overall title by virtue of having one more gold than Kenya. Egypt took home the Nasser Trophy and Nkrumah Shield.
Egypt won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals followed by Kenya 2-1-5, Uganda 2-2-2 12pts, Ghana 0-4-0 8 pts, Nigeria 0-2-3 7pts, Niger 2-0-0 6pts, Zambia 0-1-3 6pts.
Again, there’s no final medals table from available records to get a clear picture on positions of the medallists. Gold medals got three points, silver two points and bronze one point.
Kenya was heading to victory when eight of their boxers powered their way to the semi-finals but their hopes were jolted with five boxers losing and three – light flyweight Lawrence Kariuki, featherweight Philip Waruinge and light middleweight Steve Thega – qualifying for the finals with bantamweight Sammy Mbogwa, lightweight Stephen Baraza, light-welterweight John Olulu, light-heavyweight Stephen “Kimbo” Matiani and heavyweight Hamisi Abdalla bowing out in the semis.
For the second time in a row Waruinge was named the Best Boxer following his textbook performance during which he saw off highly regarded Ghanaian Sulley Shittu earlier on in the tournament and in the finals soundly beat Uganda’s Mohammed Muruli who made two trips to the canvas in the first and third rounds.
Thega put up an explosive show rocking Uganda’s more experienced Powell Mabwa with two-fisted flurries and inflicted a mouth cut on the Ugandan.
With four finalists – bantamweight Joe Destimo, light welterweight Jack Sennas, middleweight George Idoo and heavyweight Adonis Ray – defending champions Ghana were expected to put up a strong challenge but had a miserable night with all the four finalists losing their fights.
Cameroon’s hit man Joseph Bessala was in a ruthless mood knocking out Zambia’s only finalist Julius Luipa in the first round at welterweight to win his second consecutive gold medal in the Africa Championships.
Egypt’s Mohamed Selim made history as the first ever boxer to win light-flyweight gold as this was the first time the berth was being competed for in the Africa Championships.
DR Congo’s lightweight Cesar Sindo made his country proud winning gold through a points win over Nigeria’s Dela Jonathan..Tanzania too made their debut in the continental event but went stargazing, returning home with their luggage only to show for their Lusaka tour.
Niger was the surprise package of the Lusaka tournament winning two gold medals through bantamweight Haruni Lako and light-welterweight Dabore Issaka.
The Lusaka tournament ushered in Kenya and Uganda as fierce dominant force in the battle for supremacy in Africa boxing with Ghana taking a nosedive. The two East African countries dominated the fifth edition in Nairobi in 1972.
A total of 17 countries tool part in the Africa Championships in Lusaka namely Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Kinshasa now DRC, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Dahomey, Malagasy, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, Sudan and hosts Zambia.
Full results in the finals:
Light-flyweight: Mohamed Selim (Egypt) outpointed Lawrence Kariuki (Kenya)
Flyweight: Leo Rwabogo (Uganda) beat Hamza Mohamed (Egypt)
Bantamweight: Haruni Lako (Niger) outpointed Joe Destimo (Ghana)
Featherweight: Philip Waruinge (Kenya) beat Mohamed Muruli (Uganda)
Lightweight: Cesar Sinda (DRC) beat Dela Jonathan (Nigeria)
Light-welterweight: Dabore Issaka (Niger) defeated Jack Sennas (Ghana)
Welterweight: Joseph Bessala (Cameroon) KO’d Julius Luipa (Zambia) round one.
Light-middleweight: Steve Thega (Kenya) outpointed Powell Mabwa (Uganda)
Middleweight: Mathias Ouma (Uganda) beat George Idoo (Ghana)
Light-heavyweight: H. Haman (Egypt) received a walkover against Nigeria’s Fatai Ayinla who was medically unfit.
Heavyweight: Tallat El Dashan (Egypt) beat Adonis Ray (Ghana)
Credit: AFBC Communications
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