Kassim ‘The Dream’ Ouma endured a nightmare on his return to the ring at home after 22 years.
Ouma, a former world champion whose last fight in Uganda was in 1998 was meant to take on Kenya’s Rayton Okwiri in a 10-round middleweight contest.
But the confusion that marred this event, left Ouma, a man who is a beloved figure in Uganda’s boxing circles to turn into a laughable stock.
What would have been his first professional fight in Uganda did not happen given the disorganisation of the event plus the early downpour that started in the wee hours of Tuesday morning December 27.
For starters, the fight was meant to take place at Lugogo Cricket Oval but was instead shifted to the Lugogo Hockey grounds at the last minute, a few meters from the former venue.
Vision Sports came to understand that 12 sports round boxing promotions, the event organisers failed to clear the venue fees with the National Council of Sports (NCS) to host this mega fight.
NCS usually charges sh15m for events at the Cricket Oval but sources told New Vision that they had only paid peanuts.
It is from this point that NCS and 12 sports rounds reached a mutual agreement to host this fight at the hockey grounds.
Kassim Ouma talks to fans
But even after NCS clearance, disorganisation surrounding the organizers continued. By 9 pm, the ring, stage, and lights were yet to be set up.
It took up to 11 pm to watch the first undercard fight.
To make it worse, the event had 15 fights lined up but only six happened as some boxers did not turn up citing non-payment.
Ouma’s moment
Ouma entered the ring at 4:27 am but he could only watch on as his opponent remained in the dressing room.
With Ouma stuck in an outdated ramshackle ring with his twin sons doing warm-ups, it started to rain.
A frustrated Ouma, at last, expressed his dissatisfaction to Stephen Sembuya, the CEO of 12 sports rounds and other Uganda boxing promoters.
Ouma stated that how this event was handled was unprofessional.
“Uganda’s promoters must change their mindset of organizing boxing events deep in the night. They are killing the sport. This is why some fans no longer want to watch our fights,” he said.
“Some of them want to copy Western Countries because they watch International fights late in the night forgetting that we have a different time zone.”
Uganda Professional Boxing Commission (UPBC) president Salim Uhuru condemned the mess that transpired at this event and says they are to come out with an official statement.
–newvision.co.ug
