In April of 2009, the career of Kassim ?The Dream? Ouma was an afterthought to many.
Once the proud holder of the IBF junior middleweight championship, the Ugandan had suffered a split-decision loss to Philadelphia’s Gabriel Rosado, his fourth defeat in his last five fights at the time. Against Rosado and in his losses prior, Ouma didn?t appear to have the same vigor that once defined his career and few expected him to make his way back to the top.
But fast forward a few years later and Ouma is still standing, having just engaged in a hellish battle against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin this past June. Despite losing by way of 10th round TKO, Ouma fought a courageous battle against the heavily-hyped puncher that saw him give the Kazakhstanian serious trouble, especially in the first half of the fight.
Reflecting on that defeat, Ouma admits that he knew the deck was stacked against him from the get-go.
?The fight with Gennady Golovkin, Golovkin was a knockout artist,? Ouma told me recently. ?They talked a lot about him but I didn?t worry about what to expect. I didn?t get knocked out in the fight, it was just messed up that I didn?t have a proper cut man to take care of my cut. But I was beating him.?
