Lukanga Boxing Club eyes seventh title at National Open Championship finals
It’s Tuesday, April 14, 2026, and the air inside the MTN Arena at Lugogo is already starting to feel heavy with that specific smell of stale sweat and anticipation. Lukanga Boxing Club is back at the center of the storm, looking to defend their title for a historic seventh time. Honestly, it’s getting hard to imagine a National Open final without them—they’ve basically owned the place since 2018, only skipping a beat when the pandemic forced things to a halt.
Looking back, it’s a bit wild how they’ve managed this kind of dominance. Since KCCA’s group of stars—you remember the names, Shadir Musa, David Ssemujju, and the rest—took the crown in 2017, Lukanga hasn’t looked back. They’ve locked down every single edition since. Misryoum records show that in the last 16 years, only Kampala Boxing Club, East Coast, and KCCA have managed to actually stand in their way, aside from that one year they boycotted and let UPDF take it. It’s a legacy that just keeps rolling forward, or maybe it’s just pure stubbornness.
The road to today wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, though. They had to fight through some serious pressure from COBAP and UPDF during the early rounds back at the TLC Arena in Kamwokya. But here they are, marching into the final with eight boxers and a comfortable lead at 38 points. COBAP is sitting at 26, and the army guys—UPDF—are trailing with 24.
They’re serious about this. Team captain and, well, bodyguard to Alien Skin, Reagan Magumba, is leading the charge alongside Brian Kidega and the others. But you have to wonder if they’re feeling the heat. They’ve got to get through COBAP’s lineup, including guys like Denis Muleme and Ashraf Mpanga, if they want that seventh title.
It’s almost enough to make you forget the big names who didn’t even make it this far. You’d expect the elite boxers to breeze through, but this year was different. Big names like Wasswa Ssali and Joseph Kalema, who were winning medals at the Africa Boxing Championships just a while ago, ended up packing their bags early. Even the league gold medalist Moses Kimera couldn’t force his way into the finals.
So, it’s down to this. Over 500 fighters started this journey from 42 different clubs, and now we’re left with the final few. The pressure is on. It’s just boxing, I guess—or maybe it’s something more when you see these guys trying to carve their names into history.