Hit Squad captain Boniface Mogunde set the tone for his teammates when he floored 2016 Rio Olympic Games bronze medalist and 2015 world champion Mohamed Rabii of Morocco in the second round of their light middleweight preliminary fight.
Rabii, the reigning Africa middleweight champion, was sprawling on the canvas in the first minute of the second round courtesy of a right hook from Mogunde.
Despite doing his best to get back up, the referee ruled in favour of the Kenyan, awarding victory by virtue of a TKO.
Following in the footsteps of his captain was David Karanja Macharia who similarly knocked out Central Africa Republic’s (CAR) Thibaut Justin Ngbandamale in the preliminary round of their flyweight division fight.
Gold and silver medalists in each category will automatically book their tickets to the quadrennial games in the French capital.
