Though Nigeria first participated at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, the country’s first medal was at Tokyo 1964 coincidentally won in the boxing event by Nojim Maiyegun. Of the 24 medals won by Nigeria at the Olympics from five sports, boxing contributed six which is the second highest behind athletics which won 13. But it seems that boxing in Nigeria is now a shadow of itself and correspondent OLUWAMAYOMIKUN OREKOYA x-rays the state of boxing in Nigeria
BOXING is the first sport that earned Nigeria her first medal at the Olympic Games but boxing’s fortune is on a free fall in the country, considering what transpired when Nigeria failed to present a team for the African Olympic Qualifiers held in Senegal earlier this year.
Gone are the glorious days when boxing was such a spectacle on the Nigerian sporting scene and today pugilism is now a shadow of itself but what really went wrong over the years?
It was Duncan Dokiwari that won the last medal for Nigeria at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games in the United States and since then boxing has not made a meaningful impact at the Olympic Games.
Efe Ajagba who is now a professional boxer in the United States, was the last boxer to have presented Nigeria at the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil but the state of the sport has become a source of concern to boxing enthusiasts across the country.
Femi Babafemi, a former National coach, who led Nigeria to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi India in 2006 recalled with some nostalgia: “In our time, you had to be good in the amateur scene and compete in international competitions like the Commonwealth and Olympic Games before you venture into professional boxing.
“ Things have drastically changed over the years and almost everyone decides to join the professional ranks in search of money. Our professional boxers find it difficult to win international titles because our amateur system is dead,” Babafemi lamented.
Babafemi’s sentiment was echoed by foremost boxing coach Joe Mensah as he expressed his regret over the poor state of boxing in Nigeria on the background that the country is set to miss the Olympics boxing event for the first time since 1976.
Mensah lamented Nigeria ‘s absence at the African Olympics Qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 in Senegal due to lack of funds and Team Nigeria now has the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in France as the last option to qualify for the event that has not been missed since the Montreal 1976 Games in Canada.
“The government has neglected boxing in Nigeria; the team could not even make the Olympic qualifiers in Senegal earlier in the year, and it’s very strange they now think they can make it to the final qualifiers in France and against better boxers from across the world,” lamented Mensah who is regarded as one of the best trainers in the country.
“The present boxing authorities are a joke, they don’t care or love the sport, and all they care about is being members of one international body or the other and globetrotting.”
Equally, President of Nigeria Boxing Board of Control, Rafiu Ladipo, recently bemoaned the terrible state of the national boxing gymnasium, adding that unless something was done urgently; producing a home-grown world boxing champion would be a miracle.
“If you take a visit to the Brai Ayonote Boxing Gym at the National Stadium in Lagos, you will be disappointed because it is in a sorry state where all that exist are punching bags and nothing else,” he stated. “We cannot compare our gym with the likes you have in the U.S. or the U.K. where everything is top notch that gives the boxer the opportunity to be a world beater.”
Ladipo, however, lauded the efforts of the organisers of the GOtv Boxing Night who have spearheaded the revival of the sport on the professional scene since its first edition five years ago.
He said: “As a stakeholder in boxing, I will love to commend the efforts of the GOtv Boxing Night and Flykite Promotions for their unflinching support given to boxing ever since they started.”
Funding Blues for promoter
“Funding remains our biggest challenge,” explained Jenkins Alumona of Flykite Promotions , the brains behind the novel GOtv Boxing Night. “We don’t have enough companies joining with the rebirth of boxing because the sport in general has diminished in terms of participation and fights being held by promotions.
“Boxing thrives on a large number of promotions every year because if the professional boxers don’t get enough fights how can you discover new boxers so why should people put their hats into the race.”
Despite the peculiar problems, the GOtv Boxing Night, from its humble beginnings in 2014, has seen the emergence of the likes of Oto ‘JoeBoy’ Joseph, Olaide Fijabi, Taiwo ‘Esepo’ Agbaje dazzling the teaming fans, who against all odds, have turned the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium into a boxing mecca of some sort, filling it with crowds that would leave traditional football clubs like Enugu Rangers, 3SC and Bendel Insurance green with envy.
”The only organisation that has been consistent in boxing has been GOtv,” noted Alumona.
“ We had some companies partnering with us in the past but did not stay long enough like GOtv has. So in order for boxing to thrive we need more sponsors, both local and international.”
Importance of quality gyms
Meanwhile, Chairman, MultiChoice Nigeria and GOtv Boxing ,Adewunmi Ogunsanya, is satisfied with the progress of boxing in the country since his organisation intervened in 2014, stressing the importance of proper training facilities for boxers in order to accelerate their progress in the sport.
GOtv had recently launched a 30-bed multimillion-naira boxing gym, funded by Ogunsanya, conceived as a pre-bout preparation facility for local and international boxers coming to fight in Nigeria as well as an academy for nurturing young and promising boxers to stardom.
Ogunsanya said: “We are happy about the progress Nigerian boxing has made since the intervention through GOtv Boxing Night began in 2014. But there is a need to accelerate the progress by ensuring we address the dearth of training facilities in the country.
“We have talented boxers, who are disadvantaged by the inadequacy of training facilities and proper grooming. We believe that this gym will go a long way in addressing that challenge and help to bring our boxers to par with their colleagues abroad,” he added
Robust policy
Remi Aboderin, the general secretary Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C) and the West African Boxing Union, (WABU) President believes all hands must be on deck to create good boxers , saying that boxing is capable of taking crime out of the youths and creating more jobs.
“Beyond money, the right policy must be put in place. This is what will drive sponsorship and money. What do I mean by enabling the environment? Nigeria government needs to make a policy statement that will make corporate bodies know that they should invest in Nigerian sports,” Aboderin said.
“We have better boxers than the likes of Anthony Joshua right here in Nigeria. We have a boxer that was actually taken out after the Olympics; Efe Ajagba. He is one of the best heavyweight fighters in the industry now and he was trained here. He has done 13 professional fights so far and has won nine by TKO.
“Tyson Fury, AJ’s next opponent is already talking about Ajagba. We have the materials, what we do not have is the enabling environment. For Fury to call Ajagba out means that he is good,” he said.
Experience is key
Yet Obisia Nwankpa, a household name in boxing in Nigeria, believes relegating to the background experienced coaches and boxers who played important roles during the golden years is another major reason why the state of boxing is retrogressing.
The former Commonwealth and African champion said: “I spent over 27 active years in the ring as a boxer and I know what is wrong with boxing in Nigeria.
“When the standard of boxing was falling in the United States, the authorities brought both professional and amateur boxing legends to a roundtable to proffer solutions to the problem and they came out with the idea of potential power which the American boxers lacked then,” Nwankpa recalled.” Their input eventually revived the game in the US; we should try the same method in Nigeria, boxing legends would surely suggest the way forward.
“But I will not be surprised if the programme I used then to train the boxers is what is still being used to train the boxers in the national camp today because things have been so bad but we keep forgetting that every programme has its lifespan.”
Ladies not left out
2018 Commonwealth Games athlete and two-time Lagos State Governor’s Belt winner Ayisat Oriyomi feels female boxers, like their male counterparts, are mostly underpaid in Nigeria, abandoned by the authorities until a tournament is on the horizon and attend a few tournaments, local or international, to gain the desired exposure.
Oriyomi said: “When I see boxers from other countries at competitions, it is very clear they get quality training and I think they are well supported. Here in Nigeria we are not well off.
“Our training conditions are hardly comfortable and the facilities and equipment are mostly out-dated. Boxing in Nigeria is not encouraging at all, especially for a female. I am still in the sport because of the passion I have for it.
“I may have won prizes and travelled across the world but that doesn’t mean I earn big. I don’t feel like a champion and maybe I don’t look like one either. Boxing hardly feeds me or pays my children’s school fees, “she lamented.
But National team coach Tony Konyegwachie believes that Nigeria female boxers, despite not appealing to many audiences, can rule the world if given the right support.
“While Women’s boxing in Nigeria started in the 1980’s, they only recently started commanding the respect they deserve in and out of the ring yet earn far less than their male counterparts although the likes of Helen Joseph and Edith Ogoke have found fame and fortune fighting abroad,” Konyegwachie said.
“Female Boxing in Nigeria has attained international recognition and is developing every day. They can rule the world, given the necessary attention. In Africa, we are number one.
“In fact, these women have picked up more medals than the men. At the last Africa Games in Morocco, the only gold medal in boxing was from the women. What is needed is more exposure to regular competitions and sponsorship from corporate bodies,” he added.
It remains to be seen how well boxing will fare in the nearest future as stakeholders continue to search the formula to revive the good old boxing trade in Nigeria.
Leave a Reply