Peter Mungai Warui says past records will count for nothing in his next fight against top seed Johanys Argilagos of Cuba in the light-flyweight boxing quarter-finals here in Rio on Thursday.
Mungai was the first Kenyan to sail through to the quarters after stoping Chinese opponent Lu Bin 2-1. The judges ruled in favour of the Kenyan 29-28, 30-27, 27-30.
speaking after victory, Mungai said he doesn’t care what titles the opponent own and he is not bothered about his ranking.
“All I know is that I will be fighting a fellow boxer and if he is as good as the records suggest, then we will have to decide that in the ring. after all, we are all champions in our own right,” he said .
He said: “ I am usually not bothered about what my opponent possesses because that is what brings stage fright at the end of the day. Once you start thinking about how good your opponent is, it affects you psychologically, making you lose a match you would have otherwise win easily,” he added.
He said he is inspired by his second round victory and the fact that he will be a step away from the medal bracket, inspires him even more.”
He said all he will do with his coach will be to study the previous fights of his opponent and see how well he can be tackled,” said an elated Mungai.
The 49kg category boxer said his second round opponent was equally good but his tactics had seen him through.
“We looked at his videos earlier with my coach Patrick Thuku but when I arrived in the ring he changed tact,” Mungai noted.
He said while Bin is a sluggish boxer, he is also challenging and powerful and for one to handle him, you need a good guard.
Mungai said the fact that he had the support of the Brazilians was enough motivation to deliver victory.
“With determination, I am sure we can all go back home with medals. The good thing Is that we are three of us here plus our coaches and we are helping each other with tips. I believe we are on course and soon we will be talking medals,” he added.
He said he is ready for any kind of opponent and ready to fly the national flag high.
Meanwhile, the third Kenyan boxer Benson Gicharu will be up against Erdenebat Tsendabaatar of Mongolia on Thursday.
“With my two teammates having opened the right with victory, i am inspired to keep the trend. We are all targeting to reach go medal bracket,” he said.