Richard Murunga

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Richard Khalifa "Dick Tiger" Murunga (born April 22, 1949 in Amagoro, Teso District , Western ; † 2018 ) was a Kenyan boxer .

Career

amateur

Murunga was African welterweight champion in 1972 (-67 kg) and because of this success he was able to take part in the Olympic Games in the same year, in which he won over Alfons Stawski, Poland (4: 1), Vartex Parsanian, Iran (TKO 3. ) and Sergio Lozano, Mexico (KO 1st), and a semi-final defeat against János Kajdi , Hungary (4-1), won the bronze medal. At the Pan-African Games in Lagos in 1973 , however, he was eliminated in the quarter-finals against Joe Mensah, Nigeria (3-2).

Murunga had been a member of the Kenyan army since 1970, but announced his resignation in 1973 because he was not allowed to switch to the professional camp. He traveled to Uganda and started under the pseudonym Feisal Musante for Uganda at the East and Central African Championships. When he returned to Kenya, Murunga was for desertion arrested.

professional

In 1973 Murunga became the first professional of Kenyan nationality. He moved to Denmark for this and won his only three professional fights here in 1974 before ending his career.

Personal

Murunga was married twice and had seven children. Before marrying his second wife, he converted from Christianity to Islam . After living in Denmark and Kuwait for many years , he moved back to Kenya in 2003, more precisely in Bombolulu, Mombasa .

Murunga has been in a wheelchair since 2000 due to a training accident. Although he had recovered enough to be able to walk after three months, he returned to the wheelchair in 2003. In 2004 he founded the organization DT72 to support disabled people in his home country. He collected donations claiming to want to build an African Paralympic center, an international university and a research center in northern Mombasa. However, this turned out to be a fraud and after there were several demonstrations by disabled people against his organization, the Kenyan anti-corruption authority began an investigation against him and his organization. He was later under an arrest warrant in Kenya and the United States denied him entry. Some Kenyan disability groups claim that Murunga never did anything for Kenya's disabled people.

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personal data
SURNAME Murunga, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murunga, Dick Tiger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Kenyan boxer
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Amagoro, Teso District , Western
DATE OF DEATH 2018