Clarck Ntambwe used boxing to heal after father's murder

Clarck Ntambwe walked into a boxing gym in Goma with one goal: learn to fight so she could kill the men who murdered her father.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo fighter ended up finding something else in the ring — a way to piece together a broken life under the guidance of Balezi "Kibomango" Bagunda, a former child soldier turned boxing champion who trained women survivors of sexual violence. Director Matthew Leutwyler documented that transformation in Fight Like a Girl, a feature film starring South African actor Ama Qamata as the lead and Ntambwe herself in her acting debut. The Guardian reports that Kibomango was killed by M23 rebels in January 2025 while helping evacuate 41 children from a village under attack.

From revenge to resilience in the ring

Leutwyler, who was filming a documentary about Kibomango when Ntambwe first appeared, told the outlet that gym staff had to confront her initial motivation. "We have this in the documentary because, when we found out why Clarck wanted to learn how to fight, we sat her down and said: 'You cannot join the gym if that's the case,'" he said. Ntambwe confirmed the story in Swahili and English. "At first, when I do boxing, it really was to get revenge on the people who killed my dad," she said. "In the gym they could see the anger."

Kibomango, who lost an eye to a hand grenade as a child soldier and later boxed internationally, built a women's boxing club in Goma that gave fighters like Ntambwe a path to independence. Leutwyler spent five years with the trainer, drawn to his work with vulnerable populations. "He wasn't teaching these girls to become pros," the director said. "They were all victims of sexual violence to some degree so he was using boxing as a way for them to get their independence back."

Qamata, who trained with Ntambwe and Kibomango for three weeks to prepare for the lead role, described the coach's intensity during fight scenes. "He was very strict on set during the boxing scenes," she told The Guardian. "A lot of my training interactions with him were brutal." She said the film reclaims the phrase "fight like a girl" from its usual dismissive context, showing instead how women can emerge from trauma with power. Ntambwe, who reached the final of the African Boxing Championships and now lives in Seattle, said she watches boxing daily and misses training.

Source: theguardian.com