Dorchester’s Gilbert Kabamba has been chosen for Team USA boxing at this month’s PanAmerican Championships in Mexico. Courtesy photo
Amateur boxer Gilbert “Tonka” Kabamba has been selected as Team USA’s super heavyweight representative for the upcoming 2026 PanAmerican Championships in Mexico this month.
A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kabamba resides and trains in Dorchester. The 25-year-old has a 42-6 (8 KOs) amateur boxing record, according to boxrec.com, highlighted by his recent gold-medal winning performance this past May in Colombia at the 2026 Copa America, going 7-0 in his international debut.
He is a three-time New England Golden Gloves Champion as well.
The 2026 PanAmerican Championships take place in Puebla, Mexico, from Oct. 18-24, with 14 USA athletes contending for gold medals across 14 weight classes.
Kabamba never boxed until he resettled in Dorchester, and he’s been making up for lost time ever since. “I’m home,” the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Kabamba said. “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
He left the Congo during the long-running conflict there, with his family living seven years in a Ugandan refugee camp before moving to Dorchester in November 2013. He was a star football player on the two-time Division 1 Super Bowl championship Everett High team, and when football didn’t work out for him at Merrimack College, Kabamba found boxing.
“I went to a boxing gym and just started boxing,” he said. “I didn’t have football anymore, but I was an athlete. It’s been quite a ride with ups and downs, but I stayed with it.”
Kabamba is currently in Mexico at a multinational training camp through Fri., Oct. 16, when they will depart for Puebla and the PanAmerican games.
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