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 bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He held the

IBF 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, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

junior middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the International Boxing Federation, IBF or ...

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 be ...

title in 2006 and 2011.

Early life

Born into poverty, at the age of six he was kidnapped and forced to join the

National Resistance Army The National Resistance Army (NRA), the military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), was a rebel army that waged a guerrilla war, commonly referred to as the Ugandan Bush War or Luwero War, against the government of Milton Obote, and l ...

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, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, but did not attend due to financial difficulties.

Professional career

On a Ugandan national amateur team trip to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, 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, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

(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 combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

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

Light Middleweight title. Ouma successfully defended his championship with a twelve-round unanimous decision against

Kofi Jantuah Kofi Jantuah (born 16 June 1974) is a Ghanaian professional boxer that fights at middleweight. He was born in Kumasi, Ghana and now lives in Las Vegas. IBF light middleweight title fight Kofi fought Kassim Ouma for the IBF light middleweight w ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. 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 IBF Light Middleweight title. Professional career Karmazin suffered his first loss in 2002, a twelve-round decision against Javier Castill ...

, 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. Professi ...

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 Sechew Powell (born June 6, 1979) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014 and challenged for the IBF junior middleweight title in 2011. Early life Powell was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn of Jamaican ...

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 and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

. 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 middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, and ...

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

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

. 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 Joseph Salvatore Gilbert (born June 5, 1976) is an American retired professional boxer, attorney, and sports agent. Biography Gilbert was born in Chicago and raised in Sparks, Nevada. Gilbert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literat ...

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, 12 restaurants, including Charlie Palmer ...

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 state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

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 people International Boxing Federation champions Light-middleweight boxers Living people Kidnapped Ugandan people Middleweight boxers Missing person cases in Uganda Sportspeople from Kampala Ugandan emigrants to the United States Ugandan male boxers World middleweight boxing champions