An old question for you 90's Fight fans answered: **UPDATED

[Sinister]

Recently there was an article in one of the local Las Vegas Papers. Before I say what it was about take a look at this quote I dug up from an old ass thread from another Forum:

The guy that I thought would go all the way was Joseph Kiwanuka, from Uganda. He had moved to the U.S and had strung together an impressive string of wins. He began fighting in Las Vegas and then came to Michigan and began training out of the Galaxy Gym. This man could fight. He was tall and lean and had a great right hand. My trainer had no reservations of putting me in the ring with anybody to throw. I worked with Dennis Andries, James Toney, Kenny Gould, but he would not let me ever step in with Joseph. Joseph would fight Thomas Tate for the NABF super middleweight title and lose a decision over 12 rounds. He would win his next six fights in a row, stopping 5 of them early. Then it was another go with Tate and Joseph was stopped in the 11th round. After that I dont know what happened to him, he went 2 and 7 over his next 9 fights and then disappeared. Its interesting that he did beat Glenn coffee johnson for one of those wins. The guy was trouble to step in with and I just wonder what exactly took him down...

The article I mentioned above says what happened to Joseph. He's now homeless and practically blind. His last string of losses beat the eyesight out of him, and he went broke when he couldn't fight anymore, leaving him with no means to go back to his home Country.

 

[JMyersDTN]

Geez.....what a sad story.

 

[Sinister]

Yeah. A lot of the African Fighters here are pretty tight. Guys like Jantuah, the Clotteys, Dokiwari, Peter, they all know and support each other in many senses. Next time I see Kofi (because he seems to be the ring leader) I'm going to ask him if he knows where Joseph is and what's going on with him.

 

[JMyersDTN]

Yeah. A lot of the African Fighters here are pretty tight. Guys like Jantuah, the Clotteys, Dokiwari, Peter, they all know and support each other in many senses. Next time I see Kofi (because he seems to be the ring leader) I'm going to ask him if he knows where Joseph is and what's going on with him.

I can understand why they'd be so tight, being in a country like this and so far away from home......

 

[Flexwave2003]

Thats a standard tale for many boxers, some of them world class from the past. A family friend of mine was homeless for many years, and spent time boxing professionally with some moderate success. Its called life, it happens. Fighters get mixed up with drugs, women, managers with bad intentions and they end up making dumb decisions and the next thing you know its all gone. Your career and health included.

I think I remember watching Joseph Kiwanuka box, but upon search for a picture of fight or his came up short. But the name sounds familiar for sure.

 

[JMyersDTN]

I remember watching Kiwanuka on Friday Night Fights and stuff like that. I thought he might wind up winning a world title some day.

 

[Sinister]

Thats a standard tale for many boxers, some of them world class from the past. A family friend of mine was homeless for many years, and spent time boxing professionally with some moderate success. Its called life, it happens. Fighters get mixed up with drugs, women, managers with bad intentions and they end up making dumb decisions and the next thing you know its all gone. Your career and health included.

I think I remember watching Joseph Kiwanuka box, but upon search for a picture of fight or his came up short. But the name sounds familiar for sure.

Joseph wasn't a druggie or a bad seed, though. If anything that happened here, it's that he fought when medically he shouldn't have. A problem that often gets overlooked. Joe Frazier, Aaron Pryor, and even now Lamon Brewster, all with severe eye problems, and I think Jorge Barrios just had BOTH his retinas re-attached.

The difference though is that most of these guys had some sort of support system where they didn't end up completely destitute, even with drug problems such as Pryor's.

African Boxers tend to not get much support at all. Hell there was an attempt on Sam Peter's life when he went back to Nigeria recently, by the Brother of his wife. And of course where was Kassim Ouma's whole situation. They tend to have no real support systems. Like there's a couple Ugandan Fighters I can think of off the top of my head here with management and everything, and I'm curious to find out if any of them have even so much as offered to buy Joseph a plane ticket.

 

[Mr.pain]

I remember Joseph, the ring magazine had his picture and was talking about how he was one of the contenders to look out for.

Life is a motherfucker thats for sure, not everyone rides out into the sunset in that bentley.

 

[Cracky]

Recently there was an article in one of the local Las Vegas Papers. Before I say what it was about take a look at this quote I dug up from an old ass thread from another Forum:



The article I mentioned above says what happened to Joseph. He's now homeless and practically blind. His last string of losses beat the eyesight out of him, and he went broke when he couldn't fight anymore, leaving him with no means to go back to his home Country.

That's rough. I remember Joseph. He was a good fighter. I don't see how he was allowed to fight. How did he get clear medically if he was going blind?

 

[prontostar]

poor guy...

 

[Sinister]

That's rough. I remember Joseph. He was a good fighter. I don't see how he was allowed to fight. How did he get clear medically if he was going blind?

Same way all the other Fighters I mentioned did. Money talks, and at one time Joseph was a hot prospect.

 

[ValeTudoShogun]

I remember Joseph when he was an up and comer, i didn't know his situation was this dire.
He sorta just slipped under the radar.

 

[totalstranga]

damn thats sad. I'd buy him some Taco Bell if I saw him. At least Baby Jake was doing well last I heard.

 

[One Time]

There are just too many stories like this about popular and aspiring-to-be popular boxers. It's really a sad commentary. I just hate that the human compassion isn't there for some of these broken down guys...promoters and hanger ons are your best friends when you are on top, but don't know you when your down.

Pretty sad.

 

[Kid McCoy]

I always hate to hear it, it never goes down smooth when a guy with the extra character to step into the ring winds up injured and poor, but it does happen.

There is some help out there, much of it useful in hooking people up with the public and private resources that are available, but require some navigation in order to tap into what's available to help people.

If you have any luck locating him, please provide information about him to:

http://www.retiredboxers.org/

In addition to that, also contact:

Fighters' Initiative for Support and Training
265 West 14th Street
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10011
Phone: (888) 765-3478
Fax: (212) 946-2808

 

[JMyersDTN]

There are just too many stories like this about popular and aspiring-to-be popular boxers. It's really a sad commentary. I just hate that the human compassion isn't there for some of these broken down guys...promoters and hanger ons are your best friends when you are on top, but don't know you when your down.

Pretty sad.

This isn't related to the topic at hand, but I like your av and location......

 

[bradlee180]

Tragic to hear about this.

I remember watching Joseph Kiwanuka on his climb through the ranks, and the Thomas Tate knockout. Kiwanuka reminded me a bit of Tommy Hearns. Kiwanuka was a top fighter.

Sometimes I wonder whatever became of such-and-such fighter who used to be on tv a lot.
More often than not, it's a tragic story like this one. Even for many high profile champions who made millions of dollars at the top, there's a tale after Boxing of a return to poverty. They made millionaires out of others. Most are taken advantage of because they lack education or business sense or clout with the powers-that-be, some foolishly squander their fortune, the epitome of foolish spending has to be Mike Tyson. Some are victims of circumstance.

We hear about the high profile debts like Tyson's and David Tua's debts, but we don't hear too much about the lower profile fighters and whatever becomes of them. Michael Nunn's doing what? 25 years? Foreman said he made his comeback because he needed the money. Ray Mercer. Boxing's a sport of broken hearts and broken dreams.

People focus on the winner with 28 wins and maybe no losses, but that's 28 broken dreams right there too. Brutal sport. Uses what they got and casts them aside at the end. Nobody forces them to fight; they choose that path, but there ought to be something set up for these guys who are basically laying their lives on the line every time they set foot inside the ring.

 

[Sinister]

Nice reflective post bradlee. The guys like Joseph are the ones who affect me the most. If I come into cash, I'm buying him a plane ticket.

 

[GlassJaw]

Tragic to hear about this.

I remember watching Joseph Kiwanuka on his climb through the ranks, and the Thomas Tate knockout. Kiwanuka reminded me a bit of Tommy Hearns. Kiwanuka was a top fighter.

Sometimes I wonder whatever became of such-and-such fighter who used to be on tv a lot.
More often than not, it's a tragic story like this one. Even for many high profile champions who made millions of dollars at the top, there's a tale after Boxing of a return to poverty. They made millionaires out of others. Most are taken advantage of because they lack education or business sense or clout with the powers-that-be, some foolishly squander their fortune, the epitome of foolish spending has to be Mike Tyson. Some are victims of circumstance.

We hear about the high profile debts like Tyson's and David Tua's debts, but we don't hear too much about the lower profile fighters and whatever becomes of them. Michael Nunn's doing what? 25 years? Foreman said he made his comeback because he needed the money. Ray Mercer. Boxing's a sport of broken hearts and broken dreams.

People focus on the winner with 28 wins and maybe no losses, but that's 28 broken dreams right there too. Brutal sport. Uses what they got and casts them aside at the end. Nobody forces them to fight; they choose that path, but there ought to be something set up for these guys who are basically laying their lives on the line every time they set foot inside the ring.

 

[CLMahoy]

This is the really ugly side of boxing. It amazes me how some fighters are allowed to continue to fight when clearly they shouldn't. Riddick Bowe and Meldrick Taylor are good examples of guys from the 90's that have continued on when they shouldn't. This is a very sad story indeed.