Mponda Kalunga is a fighter in every sense of the word.
He first fell in love with boxing when he watched Mike Tyson on TV in the refugee camp in Tanzania where he grew up, defeating Francois Botha.
“To see that moment literally stop everything… the good and the bad, just for that moment that… has always stuck with me,” he said. “That’s the feeling. I want that fame.”
Kalunga’s quest for glory was long.
He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, which is why he boxes under the name The Egyptian Prince. He started boxing at age 16 after moving to Newfoundland as a child and became a professional boxer fighting out of Toronto before the pandemic.
He has lived and fought outside of Whitehorse for nearly two years, sometimes commuting over 3,000 miles just to get to the fights.
Kalunga as a young man. (Submitted by Snowman)
Kalunga is second in his division in the country, according to Box Rec, and is on an eight-fight win streak. Right now he’s poised for a Canadian super welterweight title and if he wins it would be his first.
He is also working with his team to organize a professional title fight in Whitehorse. If successful, it would be Yukon’s first professional boxing match in over 100 years.
“I feel like I have to live the rest of my life here, and I feel like this is an introduction to the people,” he said of the area. “Here is my heart.”
“Very difficult to train at national level”
Kalunga is the first professional boxer to fight in the Yukon in decades.
In order to properly train for fights, he flies to Ontario a month in advance just to make sure he gets to a proper gym on time. He even sleeps at the gym just to save time.
“It is much work. It is more difficult. But it’s welcomed, so I won’t complain. I’m not going to make excuses… I’m very fortunate to be doing this and I’m grateful,” Kalunga said.
He admits it’s a big challenge with so few resources for the sport in this area.
Kalunga upon his sixth grade graduation from St. Mary’s. johns (Submitted by Snowman)
Yukon Boxing, the territory’s amateur boxing organization, has not had an official training facility since Peak Fitness closed during the pandemic.
Jess Staffen, a past president and head coach of the organization, has been involved for over 30 years.
“Just logistically … we found that even for amateur boxing it’s very difficult to train nationally in the Yukon because you need competition and a lot of it,” Staffen said.
Organization of a professional boxing match
Staffen is enthusiastic about Kalunga’s efforts to bring a professional game to the Yukon.
Kalunga when he left Tanzania for Canada. (Submitted by Mponda Kalunga)
About 10 years ago, he said, Yukon Boxing tried to do the same, but they encountered some obstacles.
“We were told that some legislative changes and the establishment of a Gambling Commission would be required in the Yukon,” he said. “We were not encouraged to move the event forward.”
Kalunga and his team face similar challenges that ultimately boil down to the Canadian Criminal Code.
Section 83 states that anyone who engages in a price war is guilty of a felony punishable by summary conviction.
There is an exception for boxing competitions held with the approval of a commission or similar body recognized by the provincial or territorial legislature.
But Yukon has no boxing commission.
Ranj Pillai, the territory’s economic development minister, has contacted Kalunga’s team about organizing the event.
He said his department was looking through the legislation to see what needs to be done to host a professional game.
“It could actually be a pretty significant endeavor,” he said. “It’s based on legislation that’s been in place for decades.”
Pillai said it’s too early to say how long legislative changes might take.
Kalunga’s team hopes to hold the game as early as this spring.
history in the redesign
If they succeed, it would be a historic event.
Yukon was once an international center for professional boxing, based in Dawson in the early 1900s.
John Firth, a historian who wrote Yukon Sport: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, said Dawson City’s boxing club was known as one of the best in the world during the Gold Rush.
“It’s the oldest organized sport in the Yukon,” Firth said. “They had a facility that could seat 5,000 people, which was pretty impressive at the time.”
A page from the May 13, 1905 issue of the Dawson Daily News. (Dawson City Museum)
One of the first major fights took place in 1898 between former Commonwealth champion Frank Slavin and a bartender in Dawson City named Frank Harvey.
The fight was supposed to last 18 rounds, but only lasted six because the spectators started fighting to the point that the boxers turned to watch them argue instead.
Some big names came to Dawson City to pursue their fighting careers.
Kalunga fights under the name The Egyptian Prince. (Vincent Bonnay/Radio Canada)
Jack Twin Sullivan came to the Klondike to fight and left three months later to become the world middleweight boxing champion.
Joe Choynski, later known for beating world heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, also fought in the Yukon.
Well-known promoters also worked on the Klondike. One of them was Tex Rickard, who later built Madison Square Garden.
Then the gold rush ended, and with it the glory days of professional boxing in the Yukon.
Kalunga hopes a title fight in the area will bring people together again to enjoy the sport.
“It’s so meaningful to me…everything…my life from the refugee camp, starting there and coming here,” Kalunga said.
“Let’s make it an occasion. Historical. Something Whitehorse will remember.”
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