Boxing News Boxing News
Both Samson Onyango’s rematch with Mohammed Orungi and James Kimori’s six rounder against Andrew Samba were cancelled only moments before showtime on Sunday afternoon (May 6) in Nairobi, Kenya. Everything looked to be fine when all boxers weighed-in on Saturday. No problems what so ever, except that the medical examination had for some reason been pushed to immediately before the show.
On Sunday afternoon, Mohammed Orungi pulled out because of “a cut”, but the only scars on his face were from old and already healed injuries. Apparently this was not a problem the previous day. At the same time, both James Kimori and Andrew Samba were informed that they could not box because of “high blood pressure”.
Manager Henrik Risum finds the occurrences in Kenya very dubious, saying: “I have lost count on how many times fights have been cancelled for my guys in Kenya at the very last minute, and I refuse to believe it’s a coincidence anymore.
“The promoter of the show didn’t seem surprised at all that Orungi withdrew out of nowhere, and he didn’t even seem to care. I’m a promoter myself; so I know something like that would normally be a near catastrophe. I mean, this was supposed to be a (Kenyan) title fight!”
Risum continues: “As for Kimori and Samba, I obviously cant rule out that its true they both had “high blood pressure”, as I wasn’t there, but I also have to say that it would probably be the first time in boxing history, or almost, that not only one fighter, but BOTH, are ruled out because of this.
“Besides Muhammad Ali before his first fight with Sony Liston in 1964, I don’t remember hearing of one incident where a boxer had too high blood pressure. Not once! It all just looks a little bit too coincidental.”
“Onyango will now probably never get his rematch with Mohammed Orungi. Maybe the guy is scared, or something else is interfering, but in any case we have bigger plans, and will now move on. Both Samson and James will fight on a later date,” finishes the manager.
