Fights
She burned down the house and begs in the slums. The tragic fate of the legendary boxing champion
In the zero years, the athlete fought with Natalya Ragozina, and now she is suffering from poverty. No one comes to help the woman.
Not all professional boxers find themselves after the end of their careers. Often, even numerous titles and star status do not help in this. History knows many cases when athletes completely spent millions of fees and were left with nothing, and dubious connections brought athletes to the bottom.
A similar story happened to the famous boxer, who lit up the ring in the 2000s. At one time, the girl even gave a tough rebuff to the absolute world champion from Russia Natalya Ragozina, almost spoiling her excellent statistics. However, today the athlete lives in a dilapidated shack, suffering from hunger and schizophrenia.
The terrible tragedy of a great champion.
“We lead a dog’s life”
Kenyan Conjestina Achieng, nicknamed Stone Hands, has long since retired from her professional career. The boxer can certainly be called a legend in her homeland: at one time she became the first African who managed to win an international champion title.
Her will and character in the early stages of her career admired many. Initially, Congestina fought for a meager $ 250 – that’s how much the girl was paid for one fight. This was only enough for food and rent: Achieng then rented a modest apartment in the capital of Kenya.
“I can’t afford proper food, and sometimes I don’t even have money for a bus to go to training. When I look at other boxers like Mike Tyson and Layla Ali, my heart bleeds.
Their way of life cannot be compared to ours. We lead a dog life. In Kenya, boxing doesn’t pay as well as people might think. I do not have a fixed salary, and I am paid only when I fight in the ring, and only when I win, – quotes the words of Congestina Women Boxing Archive Network.
All these difficulties only tempered the character of the Kenyan athlete. In 2004, she reached the championship title. After that, she repeatedly fought for the belts. Especially a lot of noise was made by her fights against the undefeated Russian woman Natalia Ragozina. For six months they had two spectacular fights.
The first confrontation between the athletes took place in the summer of 2008. In this battle, the Kenyan deservedly could become the winner. She actively attacked and repeatedly during the duel shook Natalia with her stone blows, hitting her hard on the head. But the judges still awarded the victory to the Russian woman, seeing her a slight advantage.
The second duel of these athletes turned out to be stubborn. This time, Natalia prepared better and won more confidently, but in one of the rounds she still ended up on the floor of the ring, slipping after being hit by a Kenyan. The judge did not count the knockdown, and Miss Sledgehammer brought the fight to victory.
Burned down the house and went missing
The further fate of Achieng was tragic. She spent several more fights in the ring, while not losing a single meeting. In 2010, she hung up her gloves.
The internal vacuum caused by the absence of boxing in Congestina’s life was filled with a terrible addiction. Kenyan addicted to drugs. She repeatedly tried to quit the addiction, but all attempts were unsuccessful.
Against this background, Achieng developed a mental disorder. In 2012, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The boxer was treated several times, but the doctors failed to improve the girl’s condition. Last year, due to a progressive illness, the ex-champion burned down the house in which she lived. After that, her traces were lost.
Only a year later, the sad fate of Congestina became known to the public. After the fire, she moved to her native village, where they did not hear about the benefits of civilization. There she lost a lot of weight and now looks extremely painful. Local residents claim that she behaves inappropriately and survives only through begging.
In a difficult situation, it remains only to hope for the local authorities, but for some reason they are in no hurry to help the legendary athlete in Kenya. The fans do not save the boxer either – apparently, the public has already forgotten about Congestina ten years later. Fortunately, recently the world media began to write about the tragedy of Achieng – perhaps the journalists will be able to arouse sympathy in her former colleagues. Today, it seems that the girl is no longer able to save her life on her own.
Source: Sportbox
Hi, my name is Jayden James. I am a writer at Sportish, and I mostly cover sports news. I have been writing since high school and have been published in various magazines and newspapers. I also write book reviews for a website. In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer and basketball.