Kombo: How I tricked Njau for crucial win

"He did what I wanted that's why I KO'd him."

Mwinyi Kombo is walking tall after his spectacular first-round knockout victory over KDF's international boxer Sam Njau in the semi-finals of the Kenya Open Championships on Friday, April 5.

Little did Njau expect the 24-year-old Kombo, born in Kisauni, Mombasa, to prove such a difficult opponent to handle.

"My strategy worked, I tricked Njau into playing my game 'akaingia box' (fell into my tricks) that's how I finished him," Kombo said in an interview.

Kombo KO’s Njau to book Kenya Open final against schoolboy Juma

"I was not just throwing punches at random, I was aiming at the target, I knew Njau moves a lot so I decided to box flat-footed cutting in and hitting him hard where it mattered. He couldn't stand my power punches because I know I'm strong."

Kombo explains how he finally KO'd Njau, a silver medalist at the 2022 Africa Championships in Maputo.

"He threw a one-two, I ducked and hit him with my powerful right uppercut and followed it with a left hook to the chin that finished him."

In today's Kenya Open featherweight final at Uhuru Park, Kombo meets another giant killer, schoolboy Chris Juma, who outsmarted international Shaffi Bakari of Police enroute to a deserved points win in the quarter-finals.

"I can't underrate Juma, he's taller than me, very fast but I have a strategy for him, I have fought tougher opponents than him."

Kombo's burning ambition is to represent Kenya in the Olympic Games in Paris and hopes he will make it to the 2nd World Olympic Qualification tournament in Thailand in May.

He started boxing in 2012 at Changamwe Boxing Club in Mombasa and singles out former Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) boxers, featherweight Shaban Wangalwa and bantamweight George "Spider" Opiyo, for giving him a firm foundation in boxing. He moved to Kongowea Boxing Club in 2017 landing in the safe hands of coach William Okumu whom Kombo said opened the door for him to fight outside Mombasa.

"Opiyo was a stylish boxer, he taught me all the tricks like changing my game to confuse my opponent, feinting as well as being unpredictable. Shaban mostly taught me to punch accurately with power and various training exercises. I can't forget the duo. They made me what I am today."

In addition to the hot duel featuring Kombo vs Juma, other bouts highlighting today's finals include female flyweight pitting BoxGirls stylish southpaw Emily "Ring Princess" Juma taking on Ann Wanjiru of Prisons and the expectedly explosive welterweight war between Nairobi's Lenox Francis and policeman Joseph Shigali.

Emily and Ann are meeting for the fourth time with the latter winning twice and Emily once.

The welterweight bout has been dubbed Grudge Rematch One. Lenox is not convinced Shigali or Shigz as his friends call him, beat him clean last year in a league match in Nakuru.

The Ruaraka Boxing Club boxer is boiling with anger eager to prove he was the better of the two. Whether he will succeed against the more experienced and stronger Shigali will be known in the squared circle.

By NENEZ MEDIA SERVICES