Kenyan-Australian Agina promises granny 'best Christmas ever' after winning fight
What you need to know:
- He took a big risk in search of greener pastures when he absconded from Kenya's team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
- The risk he took finally paid dividends when he became an Australian citizen and got a mechanic job to sustain himself as he pursues pro boxing.
Kenyan-born Australian Brian "Swagga Boy" Agina knocked out Japan's Itaru Shigematsu in the second of a scheduled six-round super-flyweight fight in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday night.
Agina caught the Japanese boxer with a heavy right punch to the jaw that sent him tumbling down to the canvas, and in the process extended his unbeaten run to four fights with two KOs while Shigematsu dropped to three defeats with one victory.
Shigematsu hardly shook Agina except for one right punch that landed on Agina's head in the second round.
"It was just a weak punch, it could not hurt even a fly," said Agina who rocked the Japanese boxer in the first round to give him an indication of what was to come.
Agina further narrates the fight in a telephone interview with Nation Sport: "I believed in myself, even before stepping into the ring I was seeing images in my mind of a winner. I was so excited to enter the ring, I was not thinking of my opponent because if I did so I would lose focus on my fight plan."
"The moment I was in the ring I told myself I'm the winner. I shook my opponent in the first round, looked at his eyes I knew he's scared of me and he will not last the six rounds."
“In the second round, I decided to fight him closer to get my range better. I then caught him with a left uppercut on his chin followed by a right to the jaw that sent him down. He was helped back to his corner."
With that victory Agina now takes a break until February next year is when he will probably return to the ring for his fifth fight.
"For now I will continue with my job as a mechanic at my base in Victoria State and engage in daily workouts as usual because as a pro boxer one has to be fit always," says Agina, who was brought up by his now 80-year-old grand mother Jessica Silvano Mlanya at Kaa Chonjo slums in Mombasa.
He took a big risk in search of greener pastures when he absconded from Kenya's team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
The risk he took finally paid dividends when he became an Australian citizen and got a mechanic job to sustain himself as he pursues pro boxing.
Now his grand mum at Kaa Chonjo slum is assured of a lavish Christmas as Agina has said he'll give her the best ever Christmas with his cousins still putting up with the grandmother.