“Boxer Kanaabi died of Poison” Family
David GOMBE
Ugandan Boxer Alex Kanaabi, who won a bronze medal at the Africa Zone 3 Championships in October, has succumbed to poison.
Kanaabi added the Uganda Boxing Champions League light middleweight title to his collection on Boxing-Day last year.
His fight on 26th December, 2025 was his final act before his death in the wee hours of Thursday.
On Wednesday, 7th January 2025, news started to circulate regarding Kanaabi’s horrendous health state.
At first it was reported that he had been by gangs but according to his family, Kanaabi died due to poison.
“I went to his door and heard that he was breathing abnormally. That’s when we forced the door open. I saw volumes of foam in his mouth. He was motionless, one of his hands beneath his body. I called for a car to evacuate him.”
“At Good Samaritan Hospital Kireka, he was not attended to. They told us to go to a facility that does thorough heart tests,” Said Kanaabi’s mother as quoted by Daily Monitor.
“At Healthstone Medical Centre in Banda, they put him on oxygen support, but there was no improvement. Then they referred us to Nsambya Hospital.”
There, the diagnosis revealed that Kanaabi was suffering from effects of a very strong poison.Doctors said it had badly damaged his brain. That is why all the other organs were dysfunctional.”
“They told us his chances of surviving are very minimal. ‘But if we try the ICU, you never know.” the mother quoted medics.
But there were no vacancies at Nsambya’s ICU.We tried accessing nearby hospitals and failed. We ended up in Kiruddu National Referral Hospital.”
“At Kiruddu, doctors tried to flush out the poison.
“They drew lots of green stuff, and doctors said the poison was likely a pesticide. When he started urinating through a catheter, we got some hope. But the machines abruptly stopped. They tried something. But Alex was gone.” News of his death started showing in WhatsApp groups after 3am. Earlier on, a phone audio conversation between a seemingly young woman and a man who was one of Kanaabi’s first responders circulated on WhatsApp. The woman was giving updates from hospital and said “The doctors have told us he tried committing suicide.” Kanaabi’s mother narrated to Daily Monitor.
Kanaabi won bronze at the Africa Zone 3 Championship last year in October before securing the Uganda Boxing Champions league Light Middleweight title on Boxing-Day when he overcame Depark Mawanda in the final.