Kenya ring sensation Rayton Okwiri.

Russian opponent up next for Kenyan Okwiri

Kenya ring sensation Rayton Okwiri  is hard at work ahead of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) bout against Russian Andrey Zankovoy in the World Boxing Series.
The fight to be staged in Ukraine mid-next month would be the first charge for the welterweight pugilist after a two-month break. The speedster is sounding confident at the prospects of this new calendar coming up. “I am in sharp training on endurance and power so that can get better.
My body feels ready and I cannot wait for this fight,” said the 28-year-old. His opponent Zankovoy is well-known to him having squared with him in Azerbaijan last year, in the Series of the Association of Professional Boxing fight, and Okwiri is keen to do a double on the Baltic boxer.
“I already know what to work on when I face him so am prepared. I know I can beat him again,” said Okwiri. Okwiri’s trainers are currently putting him through the paces in anticipation of the fight with lots of sparring practice, gym sessions, skipping and jogging drills.
The APB world number two ranked fighter missed out on automatic qualification to the 2016 Rio Olympics, after losing out on points to Turkish Unur Sipal in the last title fight. He has an opportunity to make amends if he wins the four leg series this year,seeing as he has been seeded contender number one ahead of his Russian rival.
“I feel I can pull this off and so it’s about training hard and exploiting my opponents’ weaknesses. The Olympics is a big deal for any sportsperson and I will give it a shot with all I got,” quipped Okwiri. At stake is the coveted top spot which draws the fourth-ranked team at the semi-final play-offs.