{"id":71735,"date":"2024-04-22T17:32:52","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T17:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=71735"},"modified":"2024-04-22T17:16:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T17:16:27","slug":"national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight","title":{"rendered":"National Open: Kibira quits Ukasha\u2019s welterweight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Owen Kibira vs Ukasha Matovu, one of the most thrilling rivalries of the past two seasons of the Uganda Boxing Champions League will not happen in Season Three after Kibira chose to abandon welterweight for light middleweight.<\/b><\/p>\n

This switch means Kibira, the 2023 welterweight league champion, must start afresh in the National Open Boxing Championship, which starts Monday at Lugogo Indoor Arena, and reach the finals if he is to return to the league. But why did he choose to reinvent the wheel?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my coach\u2019s decision. I am a soldier. I must obey the orders,\u201d Kibira told, without divulging the genesis of this order. \u201cBut I am comfortable because I sometimes had to trim from 71kg to fight at 69kg. So, I am okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaac Zebra Ssenyange and Muzamir Ssemuddu, the fierce foes in light middleweight, will not feature in Season Three. Zebra has already fought thrice since his professional debut on December 29. Ssemuddu may also turn pro very soon.<\/p>\n

Could Kibira have seen an easier challenge in light middleweight which is vacated by its best two boxers? Or he is avoiding the rivalry with Matovu?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really, Ukasha doesn\u2019t scare me at all. I am the welterweight champion. I fear no one, not even in light middle. But it\u2019s good to look for new challenges,\u201d Kibira said.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Kibira featured at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the African Boxing Championships in Maputo, Mozambique before missing international assignments in 2023.<\/p>\n

On his return among the Bombers, Kibira defeated Equatorial Guinea\u2019s Billigraham Nze in the Men\u2019s 67kg Round of 16, but lost the quarterfinal test to Tunisia’s Romdhani Zakaria 5-2 after bout review.<\/p>\n

If he is serious about future international assignments and making a name that may attract big promotions, he must start with sweeping his opponents at the National Open, where he got a bye to the quarterfinals, awaiting the winner between Muhammad Mayanja and Maxwell Ojambo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt about that. He has trained very well. He must win that title,\u201d his coach Juma Nsubuga told.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Owen Kibira vs Ukasha Matovu, one of the most thrilling rivalries of the past two seasons of the Uganda Boxing Champions League will not happen in Season Three after Kibira chose to abandon welterweight for light middleweight. This switch means Kibira, the 2023 welterweight league champion, must start afresh in the National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":71733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-71735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nNational Open: Kibira quits Ukasha\u2019s welterweight - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Owen Kibira vs Ukasha Matovu, one of the most thrilling rivalries of the past two seasons of the Uganda Boxing Champi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Open: Kibira quits Ukasha\u2019s welterweight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Owen Kibira vs Ukasha Matovu, one of the most thrilling rivalries of the past two seasons of the Uganda Boxing Champi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-22T17:32:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2024\/04\/sm_1713793483.900056.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"National Open: Kibira quits Ukasha\u2019s welterweight\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-22T17:32:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight\"},\"wordCount\":362,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2024\/04\/sm_1713793483.900056.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/national-open-kibira-quits-ukashas-welterweight\",\"name\":\"National Open: Kibira quits Ukasha\u2019s welterweight - 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