Eventually, he made his way into a legitimate gym, where the older veteran boxers took notice of the kid whose shadowboxing looked so fluid and natural.

Sharif was a five-time African Champion and the captain of the Ugandan national boxing team Bogere finished his amateur career with an astounding record of 68 wins with just 4 losses (68-4-0).

On May 13, 2011 Bogere defeated Raymundo Beltran in a bloody, headbutt-filled 10 Round main event, for the vacant WBO NABO lightweight title.

This worked for Beltran at times, but Bogere came through the fight to win the WBO NABO lightweight title by unanimous decision.

Although controversial, referee Jay Nady deemed it to be legitimate and Bogere retained the WBO NABO lightweight title.

After two back-to-back victories against Mexico's Sergio Rivera and Manuel Leyva, Bogere would fight Richar Abril for the unified WBA Lightweight Title on March 2, 2013.

After the fight, it was revealed that Bogere had re-injured his Achilles during a middle round, which severely affected his ability to pull out a victory.

[citation needed] On April 26, 2014, Bogere returned from successful Achilles tendinitis surgery on the Keith Thurman-Julio Diaz undercard.

Just two months later, on June 21, 2014, Bogere would earn another quick victory stopping Miguel Zamudio in the third round on the Robert Guerrero-Yoshihiro Kamegai undercard.

Following this performance, announcers Brian Custer and Paulie Malignaggi agreed that Bogere's speed, sharp offensive combinations and his consistency had put his name into the title shot conversation for a lightweight championship.

[14] Bogere sparred with WBO Light Welterweight Champion Chris Algieri out of the Long Life Fighter Gym in Las Vegas in preparation for this fight.

"[17] At the 2015 WBC Convention, his promoter Oscar De La Hoya stated, "The Lion is going to eat someone up in 2015 and it's going to be a big year for Sharif.