Richard Murunga (born 22 April 1949 in Amagoro

Amagoro

Amagoro is a town in the Western Province of Kenya. It is situated approximately 7 kilometres from the border of Uganda. It is the capital town of the Teso District....

, Teso District

Teso District, Kenya

Teso District is an administrative district in the Western Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Amagoro, next to Malaba a border town between Kenya and Uganda. The district has a population of 181,491 and an area of . The district has one electoral constituency, Amagoro Constituency . Alupe...

) is a former boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 from Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

.

Amateur career

He started boxing in 1968, in the age of 19, encouraged by his father, Ernest Illuk,who was a Kenyan army officer. Two years later he joined the Kenyan Army.

Murunga was a bronze medalist at the 1972 Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 Olympic Games, losing to silver medalist Janos Kajdi

János Kajdi

János Kajdi was a boxer from Hungary who won the silver medal in the welterweight division at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany...

.

He deserted the army in 1973 as Kenya boxing authorities did not allow him to join professional ranks. Subsequently he went to Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

 and competed at the East and Central Africa Amateur Boxing Association (Fescaaba) championship representing Uganda under pseudonym Feisal Musante. He was later arrested, when he returned to Kenya.

Pro career

Known as "Tiger", Murunga turned pro after his impressive amateur career in 1973. He was promoted by Mogens Palle. Murunga was the first Kenyan professional boxer.

He fought three fights in Europe, winning all three bouts and retiring late in 1974.

Personal life

Murunga has two wifes, Mariam Wambui and Nawal Ahmed; and Seven children. He converted to Islam when he married his second wife Nawal, and took a muslim name, Khalifa. Formerly based in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 and Kuwait

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

, as of 2003 he lived in Bombolulu

Bombolulu

Bombolulu is a suburb of Mombasa, Kenya. It is noted for its Bombolulu Workshops and Cultural Centre and school of promise, a charity project of the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya . Bombolulu is located in Mombasa , off the Mombasa-Malindi highway...

 in Mombasa

Mombasa

Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....