By 1978, the 21 year old Stephen Muchoki had established himself as the best boxer in Kenya and one of the best in the world. He could establish himself as the best Light Flyweight in the world by winning the gold medal at the world boxing championships, beat Jorge Hernandez of Cuba, who had beaten him in the final four years earlier. It was a dominant performance by Muchoki who won his first four bouts by unanimous decision, before dominating Hernandez in the final.
Note that Hernandez was the defending world champion and also the defending Olympic champion. And Cuba were the dominant boxing nation in the 1970s. At these championships, they won 5 of the 12 gold medals on offer. Muchoki would go on to have an incredible record of 157 wins and only 3 losses as an amateur.
Stephen Moi surprised many when he won the gold medal at the 1978 commonwealth games. Modesty Napunyi Oduori went on to have a very successful professional career in the 1980s. He won the Japanese featherweight title, East & Central African Professional Boxing Federation super bantamweight title, African Boxing Union (ABU) super bantamweight title, ABU featherweight title, and Commonwealth featherweight title,
Results
Stephen Muchoki: Light Flyweight
Round 2: Beat Kim Kwang-Sub of Korea 5-0
Quarter-Finals: Beat Sami Buzoli of Yugoslavia 5-0
Semi-Final: Beat Armando Guevara of Venezuela 5-0
Final: Beat Jorge Hernandez of Cuba 4-1
Stephen Moi: Middleweight
Round 2: Beat Karoly Goetz of Hungary 4-1
Quarter-Finals: Lost to Tarmo Uusivirta of Finland 3-2
Modesty Napunyi Oduori: Bantamweight
Round 2: Beat Miroslav Vrba of Czechoslovakia 5-0
Quarter-Finals: Lost to Chung Kim Chil of Korea 3-2
George Findo: Featherweight
Round 2: Beat Ali Hassan of Liberia by walkover
Quarter-Finals: Lost to Roman Gotfryd of Poland 3-2
Joash Kitui: Welterweight
Round 2: Lost to Jochen Bachfeld of East Germany by KO
Komu Mwangi: Lightweight
Round 1: Lost to Brian Tink of Australia by KO
| Kenya Boxing Page |
