Once a Fugitive, Australia's Omari Kimweri Is Now an Interim World Champ

A life-long dream born in Dar es Salaam—and shaped in rural Victoria—inched closer to reality in Flemington last Friday.

As a packed Melbourne Pavilion watched on, Tanzanian-born Australian-based boxer Omari Kimweri defeated Filipino Randy Petalcorin to claim the vacant World Boxing Council silver flyweight title.

"I feel great," Kimweri told VICE Sports yesterday.

"It was a hard fight—a very, very tough fight—but I won, which I'm happy about."

Kimweri—who lives in the West Melbourne suburb of Sunshine—was the clear underdog coming into the fight.

Petalcorin had previously trained with compatriot and legendary welterweight Manny Pacquio, and entered the fight as the number two-rated light flyweight in the world by The Ring magazine.

Two judges saw the fight 115-112 to Kimweri, known in the ring as 'Lion Man', while the other scored it 114-113 to the Filipino. The silver title means Kimweri is the interim titleholder, not yet the overall world champion.

"I believe I won most rounds," Kimweri says. "I lost a few of the last rounds, but I did all right, every round

"Sometimes, I've only fought hard the first five rounds, but this fight it was first round to last round. I was fighting at my best. The first fight was a little bit slow, but this fight, I fought my best."

The bout was not without controversy. At its completion, Petalcorin's management claimed referee Malcolm Bulmer missed several knockdown calls.

They have since sent a formal protest letter to the WBC. Mauricio Sulaiman—the organisation's president—has ordered a review of the fight.

David Hegarty, Kimweri's long-time trainer, believes that his boxer was the deserved winner, and that the protests are a sign of "sour grapes" from the opposition.

"Look, at the end of the day, they have an elite boxer," Hegarty says.

"Randy is a lovely humble kid, and a great boxer. Probably a better boxer than Omari, but they got outdone on the game plan.

"This boy of theirs trained with Manny Pacquiao. We're just hillbillies from Werribee, mate—and we won the silver championship."

Kimweri recently featured in VICE Sports documentary 'The Fugitive Boxer, which looked at the Tanzanian's journey to achieving his dream to become a world champion boxer.

After competing at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Kimweri fled the athlete's village, hoping to defect from his homeland and stay on in Australia.

While authorities conducted a nationwide search, Kimweri spent nine months hiding on a tobacco farm 300km north of Melbourne.

Since his first fight in Australia in 2008, he was now won 14 of his last 16 fights, claiming the Australian flyweight title, WBO Oriental light flyweight title, and the WBA Pan African light flyweight title to go with his most recent interim belt.

While his opponent at the Melbourne Pavilion trained full-time leading up to last Friday's fight, Kimweri had to juggle his own work in as forklift driver to train for the fight.

"I couldn't get any sponsor to be away from work," he says.

"I took all my annual leave from work to train and make weight. I did pretty well when you think that he is a full-time boxer.

"He came to Australia two weeks before the fight, and he has been training full-time. Boxing is his job. I have to work."

The hard work paid off. Kimweri's manager Brian Amatruda is currently in Hong Kong on business, and upon his return, the two will plot the boxer's next move. Right now, Kimweri is enjoying a much-deserved three-week break from intense training.

While Hegarty says Kimweri may only have one or two fights left in him, he is confident the boxer's dream will yet be realized.

"There's still a lot of magic left," he says.

"We haven't given up on that yet, that's for sure. You should have seen him in the changing rooms before. He was that focused. That will to win—wow."

For Kimweri, the journey is still not over.

"I want to fight for super champion—I want to fight for the gold belt," Kimweri says.

"This is only silver—but I want to be super champion. I want the gold one."

"It's so close, but I feel alright. I was about to give up on the dream, but I worked hard. I feel really good.

"You know, sometimes, I wake up and look at my boxing record online—man, it feels good."

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