The boxing fraternity woke up in grief with the death of national team boxer Alex Kanaabi.
The light middle boxer, who was pronounced dead in the wee hours of this Thursday morning at Kiruddu hospital, has been fighting in the boxing champions league that is broadcast live on NBS Sport every fortnight.
According to family sources, Alex Kanaabi, the national team boxer who brought Uganda a bronze medal from last year’s Africa zone 3 championship in Kenya, died of poison.
The KCCA prospective boxer won the light middleweight title during last year’s boxing champions league finals on Boxing Day in his last ring appearance before his mysterious death in the wee hours of this Thursday morning.
In Kireka, Kagugube zone- Kinawataka where the body was for the family, friends and the boxing fraternity to mourn, grieving faces appeared.
Some local friends however went wild as the family moved to transport the casket to ancestral home in Masaka where he is set to be buried this Friday. Many of his peers in Kinawaka ghettos wanted the body to spend a night with them against the family’s wishes.
Political leaders led by area member of parliament Ibrahim Semujju, Uganda boxing federation president Moses Muhangi among others condoled with the fraternity and asked Kanaabi’s peers to stay calm and respect the family’s decision for a decent sendoff of the ever-smiling Ugandan star.
“It is so painful to lose such a young talent at a stage where he had become more productive to the sport of boxing and the country. As Uganda boxing federation, we have laid good grounds for Kanaabi to expose his talent which he has used well. It is the reason why we gave him a chance to represent the country and won came back with bronze medal at his very first time on the national team. We grieve with the family, friends and the boxing fraternity as a whole,” noted Muhangi on a visit to Kinawataka.
The Kampala Central member of parliament aspirant also called for calmness from the fraternity to allow the family offer a deserving sendoff to the Ugandan star.
“I appeal to the boxing fraternity to remain calm and respect family’s decision. We all loved Kanaabi, but the family that gave him to us loved him more. As the federation, we are making some arrangements for friends of Kanaabi to go for his burial in Masaka and we are also in touch with the family and see how we support them in securing postmortem and during burial,” he added.
After switching from welter to light middleweight division, 2025 was arguably Kanaabi’s best year – winning gold in the national championship to qualify for the champions league where he lifted the title.
In October, Kanaabi made his national team debut during the Africa zone 3 boxing championship in Kenya and returned home with a bronze medal.
His sudden death evokes the bad memories of another boxer Bala Geko who mysteriously died with wounds in October 2023.
