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Leo Rwabwogo is officially recorded as having been born on June 3, 1949, but some members of his family place his date of birth as 1942. Rwabwogo died on January 14, 2009 (some sources claim January 15, 2009), when collapsed while tending to his crop plantation, including bananas, in western Uganda. He probably died of heart failure.
Leo Rwabwogo was one of the most prominent amateur boxers in Uganda during the 1960s. Rwabwogo’s international prominence came with the African Boxing Championships held in the Zambian capital Lusaka in June 1968. Rwabwogo, as a flyweight, he emerged as a gold medalist with a victory over Egypt’s Mohamed Selim.
The memorable 1968 Olympic Games (October 12 to October 27) were held in the populous capital of Mexico, Mexico City. Rwabwogo started in the preliminaries by defeating South Korea’s Sang Byung-Soo 5-0. Then came the quarterfinals, and Rwabwogo managed to beat Tibor Badari of Hungary, 3-2. Due to his incredible speed and efficiency, the muscular and fit Rwabwogo was suspected of having inhaled marijuana. There was no evidence that Rwabwogo had broken any rules! Then came the semi-finals where Rwabwogo faced Artur Olec from Poland. Unfortunately, Rwabwogo was deemed to have lost the fight 2-3. However, Leo Rwabwogo, by winning the bronze medal, became Uganda’s first Olympic medalist. His name would be cemented in Ugandan sports history, forever!
Subsequently, Artur Olec was defeated by Ricardo Delgado (Ricardo Delgado Nogales) from Mexico, in the final. Delgado turned professional in 1969, but his professional record is lackluster with roughly half wins and half losses on points. Delgado retired from professional boxing in 1975.
In 1970, Leo Rwabwogo would shine as a contributor to Uganda’s emergence as the Commonwealth’s leading boxing nation. The 1970 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from July 17 to 24. In the quarterfinals, flyweight Leo Rwabwogo shined as he defeated Leon Nissen of Australia with the referee stopping the fight in the second round. In the semi-finals, Rwabwogo faced David Larmour of Ireland. Rwabwogo won a majority points decision. However, in the final, Rwabwogo was beaten 4-1 by England’s Dave Needham. Rwabwogo was honored with a silver medal. Dave “the Artful Dodger” Needham is legendary in the British Empire and has won several British professional titles.
Next, Rwabwogo shone mainly at the next Olympic Games. Rwabwogo notably kept his weight down and represented Uganda, again as a flyweight at the 1972 Olympics that ran from August 28 to September 10. In the preliminaries, Rwabwogo would overwhelmingly defeat Jorge Acuña of Uruguay 5-0. Then the muscular Rwabwogo technically knocked out Great Britain’s Maurice O’Sullivan in the first round. The next preliminary fight would again favor Rwabwogo with a 4-1 victory over Orn-Chim Chawalit of Thailand. Rwabwogo then went on to the quarterfinals and delivered with a third-round TKO over Neil McLaughlin of Ireland. And in the semifinals, despite the outstanding dominance of the Cubans at the 1972 Games and world amateur boxing in its midst, Leo Rwabwogo was able to soundly defeat Cuba’s Douglas Rodríguez 3-2. The Cubans dominated boxing at these Olympics, and although Rodríguez was defeated by Rwabwogo and settled for bronze, later at the World Amateur Boxing Championships held in Havana, Rodríguez would capture gold.
Unfortunately, in the 1972 Olympics final, Rwabwogo lost to Bulgaria’s Georgi Kostadinov 5-0. Rwabwogo had reportedly accumulated a thumb injury which may well have been a major factor in the loss. However, Leo Rwabwogo had further cemented himself in Ugandan history as the only Ugandan to have won two Olympic medals. No Ugandan has ever recreated Rwabwogo’s feat. Also, because Rwabwogo won more Olympic boxing medals than any other Ugandan boxer, he is considered by many to be Uganda’s greatest amateur boxer. this is a moot point, given that several other Ugandans such as James Odwori, Mohamed Muruli and Ayub Kalule have won more gold medals in their international competitions. But then again, the Olympic Games are considered by many to be the traditional hallmark of international competition!
It should also be considered that in Rwabwogo’s next major international outing, i.e., the Pan African Games (held in the Nigerian capital Lagos from 7-18 January 1973), Leo Rwabwogo (only 3 months after winning the silver medalist at the Olympic Games) was in her first preliminary tie (3-2) by Laha Ratavi of Madagascar! Ratavi was virtually unknown in the boxing world just as Madagascar’s position in the boxing world was abysmally low. Laha Ratavi was then defeated in the quarterfinals by Isaac Maiawa of Kenya. Maiawa eventually became a silver medalist. Ratavi was never heard from again when it came to international boxing! Furthermore, little would be heard from Leo Rwabwogo again in regards to the fight for his home nation of Uganda. Rwabwogo is not even listed on the Ugandan team from the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, which ultimately boycotted the Games. Even in hindsight, Rwabwogo was not included in the 1974 Ugandan teams of the African Boxing Championship, the Commonwealth Games and the World Amateur Boxing Championship.
Perhaps age and injury had caught up with the famous Ugandan amateur boxer, Leo Rwabwogo; perhaps the next younger boxers were considered by national trainers to be more competent than Leo Rwabwogo. Rwabwogo never made it to the professional ranks, but he sometimes lamented being denied the opportunity when Ugandan boxing officials blocked his chances or discouraged him. Rwabwogo, in history, still stands as one of the most skilled, strong, agile and well-conditioned Ugandan boxers.