Lessons for Kenyan boxers from Wangila’s career, death in USA

Robert Wangila (right) overwhelms an opponent with blows in the ring in this undated picture. PHOTO | FILE |

What you need to know:

  • Wangila’s problems may have started right from Seoul after winning the historic gold. Promoters were after him with the kind of speed the boxer was not used to.
  • He never got time to relax and make up his mind. Akhbar Mohammad, the boxing promoter from the United States came with Wangila to Kenya soon after the Olympics and did more talking to the press than did the boxer.
  • The boxing hero looked nervous and somehow confused as we tried to have a word with him before he left to embark on his professional career in USA.
  • The rest is history, the kind we need to understand for the sake of our heroes and heroines whose future matters so much.

As Kenyans cheered their team at 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, my memories went back to Seoul Olympics of 1988 when boxer Robert Wangila surprised many by winning gold in welterweight category, becoming the first one in Kenya and the entire African continent to win gold medal in boxing. No other boxer has done that ever since.

I’ve kept asking myself over the years how long it would take us to produce another boxer like Wangila or close to that to motivate our boxers in all levels of boxing locally and beyond. The sport has been in the decline over the years and that is quite worrying.

Winning an Olympics gold medal is an assurance of easy entry into professional boxing where every boxer dreams of making millions of shillings.

Promoters followed Wangila from Seoul to Nairobi soon after the Olympics to negotiate a contract. Soon, Wangila would fly to USA to start a new life as a professional boxer.

Many in Kenya and outside had high hopes in him and assumed good ranking as a professional would assure him a title fight within a few years.

Being in a foreign land where no Kenyan with boxing knowledge would be a companion for proper advice and guidance, Wangila may have experienced a series of problems he kept to himself.

Other than proper training and good health, mental peace and an effective cheering team can be very effective. No one knew better to have these ingredients for his boxing career than The Greatest Muhammad Ali who died over a year ago.

Wangila’s death after a fight against top 10-ranked welterweight David Gonzales in July 1994 brought in more sorrow and confusion in Kenya where many hoped there would soon be a world professional boxing champion.

What followed were bitter wars of words among family members which ended up in court as real and imagined fathers came to claim ownership of the dead hero. The bottom line was money and property Wangila had left behind.

Recently, an old friend called Sammy Ng’ang’a, who is respected in various research fields and who broke to me the news of Muhammad Ali’s death.sent me a text message to inform me about a story written 23 years ago in the United States soon after Wangila’s death.

The story, attributed to Times staff writer Tim Kawakami dated July 29, 1994 and written from Las Vegas had a headline that was quite telling; Going Down Fighting: Wangila, a 1988 Olympic Champion who died after Losing Fight, Refused to Quit Even When Pro Career Stalled.

Wangila had spent six years in a futile attempt at reliving his one golden flash. Long after most people had written him off, sadly, he died trying.

Tim saw a situation where Wangila would be buried in Kenya without professional riches, without accolades, without anything he came to the United States six years earlier to acquire.

To quote Bruce Trampler, the Top Rank, Inc., matchmaker who put together Wangila’s early fights, “ I don’t want to sound callous, but the guy who killed Robert Wangila is Robert Wangila.”

“The reason I am saying that is some two years ago he came in the office, and in effect said goodbye to everybody here, saying ‘I’ m moving back to Kenya. I tried to do this, but it didn’t work out, thanks.’'

Robert Wangiila (centre) in the company of former hurdler Rose Tata (left) and marathon runner Pascalline Wangui at a past function. PHOTO | FILE |

Bruce adds that something happened after that, whether he changed his mind or it was changed for him. For whatever reason, he un-retired; whatever happened, he continued to fight and ultimately that led to his death.

Wangila entered the ring that Friday night at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, suffered the fifth knockout loss of his disappointing 22-5 professional career. After about 45 minutes later he collapsed in a coma, was declared brain- dead and eventually was taken off life support.

Boxing observers say it was an even fight and Wangila did not appear to absorb an abnormal amount of head shots when it was stopped. Cassius Greene, who had worked with Wangila and was at the fight didn’t think he took a lot of beating.

“As far as I was concerned, he was winning the fight - not easily, but he was winning.

“I think probably what might have happened was he might have taken too many heavy shots in the gym. I think he might have been a little soft,” added Greene, the Los Angeles-based trainer.

By the ninth round, Wangila was thought to have been a little exhausted. The tide was turning a little bit and he wasn’t moving as much as he might have. Boxing experts were startled by how awkward Wangila looked early in his pro career and how hard he was getting hit by journeymen fighters.

However, to Cornelius Boza- Edwards, one of the great African fighters and a Las Vegas mentor to Wangila, everybody who knew the quiet, dignified boxer hoped it would simply be a matter of time before he showed his Olympic skills.

“This kid walked through the Olympics,” Boza Edwards said. “If a guy knocks everybody out in the Olympic tournament and wins a gold medal, that is an achievement you do not usually see. You think this guy will be a superstar in the pros.
“First we saw him and figured there will be a few things to learn. But as time went on, there wasn’t any improvement in his pro career.
“I am sure he was frustrated. But he did not like to discuss it. There were times he came over to my house where we would discuss different issues and I was always concerned to discuss where exactly he went wrong.”
Whatever may have caused Wangila’s professional downfall may not be fully understood. May be there were forces deep in his thoughts which seriously affected concentration in his pro career.

And like Samuel Kamau Wanjiru, another Kenyan history-maker who won an Olympic gold  medal in marathon in Beijing 20 years after Wangila, becoming Kenya’s first Olympic marathon champion, both dying tragically at their prime ( they were in their mid 20s), we all have a reason to be concerned.

While it is necessary to look for greener pastures to advance professionally and economically, one needs time to study the kind of contract and the entire team involved. It is important for the Government to be involved in such contracts to ensure their sports citizens are in good hands be it locally and abroad.

Wangila’s problems may have started right from Seoul after winning the historic gold. Promoters were after him with the kind of speed the boxer was not used to.

He never got time to relax and make up his mind. Akhbar Mohammad, the boxing promoter from the United States came with Wangila to Kenya soon after the Olympics and did more talking to the press than did the boxer.

The boxing hero looked nervous and somehow confused as we tried to have a word with him before he left to embark on his professional career in USA.

The rest is history, the kind we need to understand for the sake of our heroes and heroines whose future matters so much.