Kassim Ouma (born December 12, 1978) ) is a Ugandan boxer. Born into poverty, at the age of six he was kidnaped and forced to join the national resistance army 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.
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 in Atlanta, Georgia, but did not attend due to financial difficulties. On a Ugandan national amateur team trip to the United States, Ouma decided to stay to undertake a career as a professional boxer to support his family in Uganda. Ouma won the International Boxing Federation, or IBF, World Junior Middleweight title.
His father was beaten to death by the Ugandan Army as punishment for Ouma leaving Uganda. His family lives under constant threats in the African country. The Ouma dream is to provide a better life for his family outside of Uganda. Ouma is a former champion and top-level contender in the Junior Middleweight division. He has quality wins against Jason Papillion, Juan Carlos Candelo and Verna Phillips, his second win against whom earned him the IF Junior Middleweight title. Ouma successfully defended his championship with a twelve round unanimous decision against Koji Jantuah of Ghana. Ouma later lost this title in an unanimous decision defeat against Roman Karmazin, 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 Junior Middleweight division, earning three wins, two by knockout. On May 6, 2006 Ouma defeated Marco Antonio Rubio by split decision despite being knocked down in the first round. Kassim returned to the ring with an impressive win over undefeated Sechew Powell August 5, 2006. Powell is from Brooklyn, NY and the fight took place at the Theatre of Madison Square Garden. The official scorecards were 90-100, 93-97 and 94-96 all in favor of Kassim Ouma by unanimous decision.
