Olympic Boxer Who Slept on a Gym Floor

Joseph Kiwanuka left Uganda around 1993 to box professionally in the United States. He had represented Uganda at the 1996 Olympics, and by the late 1990s he held a championship belt and was contending for the world super middleweight title. He was beaten only once in his first 28 professional fights, though he later lost eight of his last ten.

His career ended in 2004. Afterwards he learned that he had traumatic cataracts in both eyes and needed surgery, which he could not afford. In 2007 he became homeless in the Las Vegas area, and he sometimes slept on the floor of a gym. He told the reporter Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun that he wanted to go home.

Frank Slaughter, a volunteer assistant boxing coach at UNLV, befriended him. Slaughter said he thought Kiwanuka had been used, left on the street once he stopped earning money. Anonymous donors helped to find him housing and raised money for the eye surgeries, which were successful.

In early April 2008, the week before the Sun's story appeared, Slaughter put him on a plane to Uganda, where a crowd met him at the airport. The article noted how unusual this is in a sport full of stories about destitute former champions. Slaughter said boxing has an obligation to help those who have contributed to the sport, and the author argued that the sport would be better if it followed this example.