Robert Wangila

Robert Napunyi Wangila ( born September 3, 1967 in Nairobi, † July 24, 1994 in Las Vegas ) was a Kenyan Olympic champion in boxing.

Career

Amateur

As an amateur, won Wangila 1987 in Nairobi, the Pan-African Games featherweight against Shahelu Mekuria. In the same year he finished third in the World Cup in Belgrade, where he lost in the semifinals against Siegfried Mehnert, DDR (5-0 ). A year later he reached after victories over Djordje Petronijevic, Yugoslavia (RSC 2 ), Khaidan Gantulga, Mongolia (AB 2 ), Hristo Furnigov, Bulgaria ( 5:0 ), and Jan Dydak, Poland ( where), the final of the 1988 Olympic Games in which he met the Frenchman Laurent Boudouani, which he proposed in the second -round knockout. Thus he became the first African Olympic champion in boxing and won so far only Olympic gold medal for Kenya, which has not won in the field of athletics.

Professional

After the Olympic victory in 1988 it moved Wangila to Las Vegas, USA and he was there in 1989 pro. During his five- year career, he won 22 fights ( 16 of them by KO) and lost 5 (all by knockout ). His last fight was in 1994 against David Gonzalez, who was stopped in the eighth round with KO in favor of Gonzales. Shortly after the battle Wangila fell into a coma, was declared brain dead and died shortly afterwards. He was buried in Kenya.