Commonwealth Sport and Uganda Olympic Committee president Dr. Donald Rukare has joined the sports fraternity in mourning fallen boxer Alex Kanaabi, describing his death as a painful loss to Ugandan sport.
Rukare said he was deeply saddened by the passing of a young athlete he knew personally, noting crowned Kanaabi on Boxing Day the light middleweight division title belt.
“We have leant of the sudden passing of one of our elite boxers Alex Kanaabi. This is very saddening, Alex was one of our elite boxers and just on Boxing Day last year, I watched his match winning the light middleweight division title and I actually gave him his belt in Lugogo,” Rukare told this website.
Kanaabi who was buried this Friday January 9th in Masaka was one of the boxers expected to battle for a place for this year’s Commonwealth Games.
“He was a young boxer and getting the news that he has passed away, it is very sad. It is such a young life that has been taken so early and we extend our deepest condolences to Alex’s family and the country at large. We wish Alex’s soul eternal and we ask God to comfort his family,” Rukare added.
Kanaabi passed away in the wee hours of Thursday morning with the family attributing his demise to poisoning.
The 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 morning.
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.
