Kassim Ouma (born 12 December 1978) is a Ugandan

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He held the IBF

junior middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF o ...

title from 2004 to 2005, and has challenged twice for a world

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

title in 2006 and 2011.

Early life

Born into poverty, at the age of six he was displaced by war and he ended up under the protection of the then rebel forces

National Resistance Army The National Resistance Army (NRA) was a guerilla army and the military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) that fought in the Ugandan Bush War against the government of Milton Obote, and later the government of Tito Okello. NRA wa ...

and consequently did not see his family for five years. Ouma is the 7th of 13 children, which include 7 brothers and 5 sisters. Only 4 brothers are still alive.

Amateur career

Upon leaving the army, Ouma started boxing and amassed an amateur record of 62 wins and 3 losses. He made the Ugandan national boxing team and was selected to fight at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

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, but did not attend due to financial difficulties.

Professional career

On a Ugandan national amateur team trip to the

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, Ouma decided to stay to undertake a career as a professional boxer to support his family in Uganda. Ouma later won the

International Boxing Federation The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts. The others are the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing C ...

(IBF) Junior Middleweight world title. Ouma is a former champion and top-level contender in the

Light Middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the Intern ...

division. He has quality wins against Jason Papillion, Juan Carlos Candelo, and

Verno Phillips Verno Jeremias Phillips (born November 29, 1969) is a Belizean former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He is a three-time junior middleweight world champion, having held the WBO title from 1993 to 1995, and the IBF title twic ...

, his second win against whom earned him the IBF Light Middleweight title. Ouma successfully defended his championship with a twelve-round unanimous decision against Kofi Jantuah of

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. Ouma later lost this title in a unanimous decision defeat against

Roman Karmazin Roman Alexandrovich Karmazin (born January 2, 1973) is a Russian former professional boxer. He held the International Boxing Federation, IBF Light Middleweight title. Professional career Karmazin suffered his first loss in 2002, a twelve-round d ...

, a bout in which Ouma was put to the canvas twice. It was only the second defeat of his career. Since the Karmazin bout, Ouma has remained active in the Light Middleweight division, earning three wins, two by knockout. On May 6, 2006 Ouma defeated

Marco Antonio Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born June 16, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2015. He held the WBC interim middleweight title in 2014, and challenged twice for a middleweight world title in 2009 and 2012. Profes ...

by split decision despite being knocked down in the first round. Ouma returned to the ring with an impressive win over undefeated fellow southpaw Sechew Powell August 5, 2006. Powell is from Brooklyn, NY and the fight took place at the Theatre of

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

. The official scorecards were 90-100, 93-97, and 94-96 all in favor of Kassim Ouma by unanimous decision. Ouma lost the middleweight title shot against

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed champion in the middleweight division, having defeated Bernard Hopkins in 2005, and in doing s ...

on Dec. 9, 2006. Taylor's power and well-timed clenches kept Ouma from throwing as many punches as he usually does. Despite absorbing a large number of extremely hard shots, Ouma did not go down. The fight went the full 12 rounds, and Ouma lost by unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 118-110, 117-111 and 115-113 for Taylor who was at home in

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. After the Taylor fight Ouma lost back to back close decisions to Saul Roman in October 2007 and Cornelius Bundrage in March 2008. On September 25, 2010, Ouma stopped Joey Gilbert in the 6th round of their 10-round bout for the vacant NABA middleweight title at the

Grand Sierra Resort Grand Sierra Resort (formerly MGM Grand Reno, Bally's Reno and Reno Hilton) is a hotel and casino located approximately three miles east of Downtown Reno, Nevada. The hotel has 1,990 guest rooms and suites, 27 floors, 12 restaurants, including Ch ...

in Reno, Nevada.

Personal life

While in Uganda he was never shot despite being in the army. However, after having moved to America he was shot twice in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in December 2002. According to Ouma, his father was beaten to death by the Ugandan army in retaliation for his leaving of the country. A documentary entitled ''Kassim the Dream'' was made in 2008. It was an official selection at several film festivals.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouma, Kassim 1978 births 1980s missing person cases Formerly missing Ugandan people International Boxing Federation champions Light-middleweight boxers Living people Kidnapped Ugandan people Middleweight boxers Missing person cases in Uganda Boxers from Kampala Ugandan emigrants to the United States Ugandan male boxers World middleweight boxing champions