KASSIM OUMA PROFILE AND BIO

The Dream’s dream came true in October 2004 when Kassim Ouma captured the IBF junior middleweight belt with a 12-round unanimous decision over champion Verno Phillips.

In their initial meeting in September 2001, Kassim outpointed Phillips across 10 rounds to win a unanimous decision. There were a number of close rounds in the exciting fight, but Ouma helped secure the victory by decking Phillips in the ninth and staggering him in the 10th.

In June 2004, the two fighters were slated again, but Ouma was forced to pull out because of a training injury, a sprain of the thoracic spine with muscle spasms hat prevented him from breathing deeply. Instead, Phillips scored a 6th-round TKO over late substitute and IBF No. 15 contender, Carlos Bojorquez and captured the vacant IBF junior middleweight title.

He really broke through in his fight against former Winky Wright nemesis, Juan Candelo. He completely dominated until finally putting his opponent away in the 10th round of their International Boxing Federation (IBF) elimination bout in January 2004.

Previously, he fought Carlos Bojorquez in August 2003. He dominated most of the bout and opened a deep cut under Bojorquez’ right eye in the 8th. Ouma’s straight left continued to draw blood from his opponent’s face. The referee stopped the bout on the advice of the ringside doctor and awarded the TKO victory to Ouma.

Growing up in Kampala, Uganda, it was not uncommon for youngsters such as himself to be taken out of elementary school and sent directly to the National Resistance Army. At the young age of seven, he spent the first of 10 years in the army.

“I was an instructor, a soldier and I saw a lot of killing,” said Ouma, who had no contact with his family at the time. “We were just growing up, but we had guns. You try to escape, but you cannot. They put me in jail and took me back. They roughed me up, took my pants of and whipped me. After that, they took me to war again.

“It is a time of my life that I do not want to remember. Thinking about my mother and dreaming about military stuff gets me crazy. I have sisters and brothers that have degrees in education and stuff, but I was the only one who was kidnapped and put into the military, so I did not get a chance to have enough education. But, I am smart. In my country, I speak all the languages and I still want to go to school.”

In his first pro fight he scored a first round knockout over Napoleon Middlebrooks in July 1998.

Following a perfect rookie campaign, he captured the Florida state 154-pound title with a 5th-round TKO over Victor Ramos in January 1999.

He suffered his lone defeat when he lost by first-round TKO to underdog Agustin Silva in November 1999. According to his manager, the boxer “was looking at his girlfriend in the crowd when Silva landed the knockout punch.” Kassim said he was “clowning around”.

He recorded a 5-th round TKO over rising contender Alex Bunema in May 2000. Bunema’s nose began to bleed heavily in the 3rd. Although his corner stopped the bout at the end of the following round, the Texas state boxing commission called it a TKO at 0:10 of the 5th.

He boxed to a 2nd-round technical draw against James Coker in April 2001. Coker was cut over the right eye by an accidental clash of heads in the 2nd round and the fight was stopped at 1:46.

Since then, Ouma has gone 9-0 with one no-decision. In June 2001, he scored a 10-round unanimous decision over former two-time world title challenger, Tony Marshall, in spite of the fact that Ouma took the match on short notice.

He dominated Pedro Ortega by rocking him numerous times before the bout was stopped after the 4th round in December 2001.

He then won his fourth consecutive bout by scoring a 10-round unanimous decision over fellow southpaw, Michael Lerma in February 2002.

He went on to capture the vacant United States Boxing Association (USBA) junior middleweight title by tallying an 8th-round TKO over Jason Papillion in May 2002. Papillion who was behind in points, complained of a shoulder injury after the 8th round and his corner stopped the fight.

His first USBA title defence took place in October 2002. Originally, the results were announced as an 11th-round TKO over Darrell Woods, but ultimately went into the books as a no decision. The result was changed after the fight when Ouma tested positive for marijuana during the post-fight drug test. Ouma was stripped of the title and dropped from No. 4 to No. 9 in the IBF rankings.

Overcoming setbacks was nothing new to Ouma as he faced yet another one when he was shot in the abdomen in December 2002 in Palm Beach, Florida. The victim of a drive-by shooting said, “I do not really know what happened. I spent 12 years in the Army and never got shot. If I can survive a bullet, boxing cannot scare me. Nobody can scare me. I am coming back meaner and stronger.” He was back in the gym just three months after undergoing successful surgery.

In his return bout, he won a 12-round split decision over former NABF 154-pound champion, Angel Hernandez in May 2003.

Less than three months later, registered an 8th round TKO over Bojorquez. The fight was considered to be dangerous for Ouma. It appeared that he might have made a mistake when Bojorquez rocked him with a counter right hook in the second. Bojorquez fired off 115 punches and landed 36 in an attempt to put him away, but Ouma managed to squirm his way out of trouble, and dominated the rest of the bout. He had Bojorquez bleeding badly from cuts on his face when the ring physician stopped the fight 54 seconds into the 8th round.

In October 2004, Ouma got his world title opportunity and won the IBF middleweight championship of the world over Verno Phillips.

He made his first defense and scored a unanimous decision victory over hard-punching contender, Kofi Jantuah in January 2005

Then in July 2005, Ouma lost his IBF title to Roman Kamazin by a 12-round unanimous decision

In his most recent bout, Ouma won an 8-round TKO over Francisco Antonio Mora and picked up the vacant WBO NABO Light Middleweight Title.