By Jake Donovan
You won't find a more happy-go-lucky character in the sport than Kassim "The Dream" Ouma. For years, his youthful nature was as evident in his fighting style as it was in his out of the ring demeanor.
And why not? He was living out the childhood that was stolen from him the moment he was removed from his family and forced to serve in the Ugandan Army as a child. He was also rapidly emerging as a major player in the junior middleweight division.
Simply put, Kassim was living a dream, in and out of the ring. In back-to-back fights, Ouma made his Showtime and HBO televised debuts, winning his first alphabet title on the former, before successfully defending three months later on the latter.
As lineal junior middleweight champ Winky Wright had his eye on the middleweight division, Ouma was being held as the successor to the throne. That was until he ran into Roman Karmazin in 2005, suffering two knockdowns in a lopsided decision loss.
It's been up-and-down ever since, though way down for the moment, as Ouma's dream career is one more loss away from becoming a nightmare.
To call his upcoming 10-round battle with Cornelius "K9" Bundrage a must-win scenario would be a massive understatement. It's been nearly 18 months since Ouma's arms were last raised in victory, as he enters this weekend's main event (Friday, ESPN2 9PM ET) riding a two-fight losing streak. One of the losses came in his quest for the undisputed middleweight title, falling short to then-champion Jermain Taylor in Little Rock, Arkansas. No shame there.
It was his most recent performance, however, that left most fans in disbelief.
Headlining a Telefutura card last November, Ouma was served up Mexican brawler Saul Roman as a tune-up to help shake off 11 months of ring rust. The bout was actually Plan B, after a previously scheduled tussle with Sergio Mora was cancelled along with the September 15 HBO PPV card on which it was supposed to appear. Efforts were made to reschedule, but both fighters wound up traveling in opposite directions.
Given the respective outcomes, they'd have been better off sticking with the original plan of facing one another.
Less than three weeks after Mora was surprisingly held to a draw against unheralded Elvin Ayala, Ouma would produce a result even more shocking, falling short against Mexican journeyman Saul Roman in an intended Telefutura tune-up.
Roma was a respectable pug with legitimate punching power, but had lost two straight going into the fight. All four of his career losses came by way of stoppage, with none lasting longer than four rounds.
Just what the doctor ordered for Ouma, who was fighting for the first time in 11 months and was assured a big fight in the 1st quarter of 2008 should he emerge victorious against Roman.
Those plans were shot to sunshine the moment Roman elected to put up a fight. Not that there was any quit in Ouma – never has been, never will be. But no matter how hard Ouma pushed, Roman refused to wilt, fully aware that he was able to hurt and bully his heavily favored opponent.
That it took a questionable eighth round knockdown to give Ouma a fighting chance on the scorecards clearly told the story that it just wasn't his night. Roman overcame the blown call – and the undetected low blow that produced it – finish strong, and win the fight on two of the three official scorecards.
It was hardly a night – or a year – to remember for Ouma. The only thing that's gone right since his last win (W10 Sechew Powell, August 2006) was being reunited with his son, Umar, prior to his December '06 clash with Jermain Taylor. It was the first time Kassim, who fled from the Ugandan Army as a teenager before eventually surfacing in the States, was able to see his son since he was first born.
What Ouma is desperately in need of now is a reunion with the win column. Enter Cornelius Bundrage, the former Contender contestant also in search of a career revival.
Before appearing in Season Two of The Contender, Bundrage was best known for his four-punch, multi-knockdown loss to Sechew Powell in a battle of then-unbeaten junior middleweights that lasted all of 22 seconds.
Life in reality-TV proved to be a much better fit for K9, who is 5-1 in Contender-promoted events. The lone loss came to Stevie Forbes in the season's semi-final bout, before bouncing back strong to brutally overpower Norberto Bravo in the consolation round. The performance was by far the most impressive of Bundrage's career, as well as his most emotional; his sister was murdered a month before the fight.
Beyond reality, Bundrage has hardly made a dent in the real boxing world. An ESPN2-televised win over once highly touted prospect Chris Smith was much tougher than expected, having to rely heavily on his jab to offset Smith's more telling blows. A return to the deuce six months later produced far less favorable results, absorbing a one-sided beating against Joel Julio before the fight was mercifully stopped in eight rounds.
Bundrage has since managed a win over a nondescript opponent, and enters this weekend's fight as the betting underdog. The odds are perhaps a testament to the perseverance Ouma has exhibited not just throughout his career, but all 29 years of his life.
Whatever he has left in his gloves and fighting heart, he will need to bring all of it and then some to Salamanca, New York this weekend, if he is to renew his boxing dream and escape the present nightmare his career has become.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Jake can be contacted at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.