By the time Conjestina Achieng was nine years old, she knew she’d have a long-lasting relationship with sports. She was a student at St. Jesus Primary School in Yala at the time, and if she wasn’t playing ball games, she was among the students competing in the short races. Her athletic physique and tomboy nature were additions to her love for outdoor physical activity and would later play a part in her career as a middleweight boxing champion.
Introduced to Boxing
She later moved to Nairobi and immersed herself in football, eventually joining a youth soccer team. But then another sport caught her attention. Conjestina’s elder brother was a member of a national boxing team, and his love for the sport spilled over to his younger sister who was slowly ushered into the world of punching, weights and the ring. It may have come as a surprise to some to see a young woman interested in a sport that was primarily dominated by men, but Conjestina would fall within the first crop of female boxers in the region and debunk the idea that the sport wasn’t female-friendly. The year was 2000 and as a new decade (and century) began, so did the rise of this budding boxing enthusiast.
In interviews she did later, Conjestina credited her brother for her boxing prowess, crediting him for her training and growth in the sport. She started out as an amateur, participating in ‘minor’ local fights with other female boxers in the area and from East Africa. In these small competitions and wins, Conjestina made a name for herself within the ring and among lovers of the sport. This came with a new twist to her name – Conje.
Not your Average Amateur
Then in June of 2002, the not-so amateur boxer made her pro debut in Nairobi when she was up against another Kenyan boxer, Naomi Wanjiku. After four intensive rounds with a crowd cheering on, Conje emerged the champion of the match. In her next match, where she was up against fellow middleweight, Damaris Muthoni. The match ended in a tie, but it was enough to have Conje recognised, and the following year when she won another match, she was given the nickname ‘Hands of Stone’. With each match, Conje was giving other boxers a run for their money. Her name came up almost every week on local sporting headlines, and it was only a matter of time before she became Kenya’s female boxer in a larger ring – at the Nyayo National Stadium.
A Legend!
In 2004 Madam Hands of Stone came head-to-head with Jane Kavulani in a match in August. Two months later she beat Ugandan boxer Fiona Tugume, but in November lost a match in Arusha. She made a comeback in December at the Nyayo Stadium when she was up against Fiona Tugume once again, this time for the GBU Middleweight title. One power punch after the other led to a KO that made Conjestina the winner and the first African woman to win a professional boxing title.
She instantly became an inspiration to many, the Kenyan boxer Kenyans cherished, and for the five years that followed, the middleweight champion who made the country proud. In her tenure as a boxing champion, she even faced American boxers Yvonne Reis in 2006, and Laura Ramsey in 2007.
Sadly, as is the case with boxing, too many punches to the head eventually took a toll on Conje and affected both her career and her mental state.
Despite the misfortune that befell this boxing legend, we can’t erase her legacy and her spirit, nor her hard work that earned her one win after the other.
#KeFemaleFirsts
