•Okwiri has linked up with two overseas coaches in Dubai ahead of his forthcoming as he admits lack of state of the art of boxing facilities in Kenya.
Rio Olympian Rayton Okwiri has linked up with two overseas coaches in Dubai ahead of his forthcoming 8 round scheduled non-title contest against Pascal Bruno of Tanzania in Nairobi on March 23.
The fight Promoted by Thomas Mutua’s Afribox Promotions will serve as an under-card for Fatuma Zarika’s World Boxing Council (WBC) defence against Catherine Phiri. Okwiri will be using the non-title fight as a precursor to his Africa Boxing Union (ABU) with Africa number 1 Hassan Mwakinyo of Tanzania or former World Boxing Council (WBC) silver champion Charles Manyuchi of Zimbabwe.
Asked why he never travelled alongside a Kenyan coach, for instance, his close friend and former international Dan Shisia, Okwiri explained: “Shishia is a good coach. He motivates me immensely since he knows my story in boxing but this time, we needed different training with better equipment for strength conditioning and sparring partners.
Back home, we lack the state of the art boxing facilities. My team wanted me to train in different locations where we can focus and savour quality training.” Okwiri also noted that weather won’t be a challenge.
“Dubai is not very humid; the place has three seasons just like the USA with winter, summer and spring. It’s very cold with a lot of sunny spells. At night, it's cold and at times it rains, so this is good for my fight,” he said.
Okwiri’s manager Antony Waithaka has confirmed that the ABU title fight is on.
“Now that the title fight is confirmed, I can’t wait to demolish Bruno in Nairobi,” Okwiri said, adding: “In Dubai, I’m training with other six boxers from the Philippines who are scheduled to fight in April. We have two others from Kazakhstan and Almaty and one Italian boxer who is going to challenge for the WBC silver title.” Okwiri jets in the country on March 20 well in time for pre-match medical and weigh-in scheduled a day prior to the fight.
“My team and I were looking for a good and not far off destination to train and since we had heard of a good club in Dubai, we opted to fly there.
"The ‘Round 10 Boxing Club’ here is laden with competitive sparring partners and we also have other good Kenyan boxers from that gym who are promising boxers such as Nick Makaveli and Melvin Bulinda.
"I thank my manager for giving me this great opportunity to brush shoulders with great boxers. We are training with two coaches here, one from Romania and the other from Kazakhstan. I’m training with both of them but the one focusing on me is Morovon Viorel from Romania who is two-time world and European champion.”
Okwiri said training is more challenging in the Dubai Club but enjoyable because one doesn’t know all the training partners. “When we go sparring, no one knows how the other boxer will do, so it’s a steep learning curve and also great exposure,” he added.
“Training is all good and I’m learning something new every day,” he quipped adding: “I’m ready to fight any fighter. I already have good ring experience and my boxing story speaks volumes about my aspirations in my pro career. The continental ABU title will no doubt open bigger doors.”