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How DJ Zebra muted noisy critics
Isaac Zebra (in red tracks) watches Brolin Kimbugwe land in the ropes during their one-sided fight in the boxing champions league. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
In the second round, the collaboration of both hands was even more dangerous: a right hook sent Kimbugwe to the ropes' rescue. And as he charged to attack, another right caught him in flight, rocking his chin and flooring him again. Surprisingly, on all occasions, the referee never counted.
Welterweight sensation Ukasha Matovu called Isaac Zebra Seenyange Jr a mere deejay, who cannot remix, echoing many who doubted Zebra's boxing credentials.
He is latecomer. Just favoured. And thinks he knows more, is how critics describe the light middleweight boxer, trying to emulate his slain father. But Saturday night, Week 13 of the Uganda Boxing Champions League, Zebra delivered his most decisive victory before a fully-packed Lugogo Indoor Arena.
He led with his right hand, jabbing and and hooking Broline Kimbugwe's left side of the head, but it was his most lethal left hook, that Kimbugwe must have been keen to escape, that delivered the first major blow, a hook to the right temple that sent him crumbling to the canvas.
In the second round, the collaboration of both hands was even more dangerous: a right hook sent Kimbugwe to the ropes' rescue. And as he charged to attack, another right caught him in flight, rocking his chin and flooring him again. Surprisingly, on all occasions, the referee never counted.
Starting the third, Zebra charged from his red corner gesturing like a beast but both his left and right missed. They clenched each other. Then an average left sent Kimbugwe into the corner, followed by another left and right. Zebra continued his domination with combinations, a jab to the face, and brilliantly turning away from any danger as his fervent crowds sung Mando, a name that evokes memories of his fallen father.
Kimbugwe, the Number One Stylist, was not stylish at all. And he needed something exceptional in the last two rounds. Precisely, a knockout.
Instead, the fourth turned out to be Zebra's best round. God knows how Kimbugwe braved that thunderous right to the jaw. But three more shots to the head forced the ref's count. He conceded more shots. Zebra used every break, to add spice up his mix, like that basketball jump as the ref intervened.
Kimbugwe never stopped coming and finally landed some shots in the fifth stanza but Zebra answered with more. And never changing his strategy. The man Ukasha mocked as a 'mere deejay,' jumped to ropes, faced Ukasha's army near the blue corner and silenced them. He had dominated the fight, the vibe, the style, the show, everything. The judges' 5-0 decision was obvious.
Zebra needed such a victory because despite his improvement abroad, his last two victories in Uganda were overly controversial.
"I came to silence the cheap talkers, and give the fans a fantastic main fight, something the media will talk about for two weeks weeks," he said much later as the fully-packed Lugogo Arena was empty.
"Broline is a good fighter but he feared me. Yet I had a point to prove. I am Number Six in Africa, and I must improve in every fight."
