By Olanrewaju Agiri
One of Nigeria’s promising heavyweight boxers and African Games gold medalist Gbenga Oluokun has been to hell and back. The ebullient boxer who made it to the round of 16 at the 2004 Summer Olympic in the colours of Nigeria moved abroad shortly after the Olympics where he had a fledging professional career going.
At the early stage of his career he was on a roller-skater winning his first 16 bouts with more than half by KO. Boxing buffs instantly nicknamed him ‘Bang-Bang’ to give credence to his ferocious KO instincts that seemed to come from the blues. Oluokun could go toe to toe with an opponent and in a split second knock him out.
Thereafter, his career took a nosedive as he suffered successive defeats, 14 in all winning only three in between. Due to the turn of fortune, the Germany based suffered depression. Oluokun in a recent interview while promoting his come-backing campaign in Ibadan, Oyo State revealed that he almost took his own life during the worst state of his depression. Twice, he said he thought of ending his life.
The skillful boxer, who represented Nigeria in the 2004 Summer Olympic after clinching the gold medal in the super heavyweight division in the in Abuja 2003, said this in Ibadan during an unveiling event held for him by D’Colossus Boxing Promotions
The Ibadan-born boxer started well after the Olympic Games by turning professional and won his first pro-fight against Vlado Szabo in Germany.
He had a blissful boxing career for about eight years in Germany doing well and raising a family and not until 2019 that he considered coming home to help Nigerian boxing and raise grassroots boxers, before he lost it all. A loss he claimed is unexplainable. He became depressed, deteriorated mentally and fell back to the street.
“I started well and everything was going on smoothly, until suddenly everything turned sour. I won my first 16 fights as a professional boxer then I lost to Syrian boxer, Manuel Charr in 2009.
“After a professional career of 19 wins with 13 knockouts, 14 losses, I decided to come back home in 2019 to help Nigerian boxing and raise grassroots boxers to international standard, I lost it all. A loss that led to depression, deteriorated mentally and I had to fall back to the street to survive,” Oluokun said.
In a bid to bounce back, Oluokun narrated how he sought help from with old friends to get a contract in Dubai as a trainer and a fighter, but unfortunately, the whole trial turned pitifully bitter when he suddenly collapsed on his arrival at Dubai International Airport and went into coma for about 115 days.
“After my bitter experience in Nigeria, with the help of some of my old friends, I got a contract in the United Arab Emirate as a trainer and boxer and unfortunately, I collapsed on my arrival at the Fujairah International Airport, Dubai and I was in coma for over 3 months.
“Having recovered from the coma, I was brought back to Nigeria and I was in a hellish, traumatic, and a pitiable condition,” he added.
“After my recovery from coma I had to relocate to Ibadan from Lagos where I believe many people will not identify me but when I cannot bear it, I attempted to kill myself with over dose of different drugs but to my disappointment, I excreted all the drugs I took the previous night. Again I tried it the second time and I got the same result. That was when I knew that God still had a mission for me to fulfill,” Oluokun said.
Oluokun is back on his feet and ready to return to the ring at 37 years-old.
On his comeback bid, as fate will have it, Oluokun came in contact with an Ibadan based boxing promoter, Mr Ezekiel Oshinmi the CEO of D’Colossus Boxing Promotions, who went into the streets to recruit boxers into his stable. After having intense discussions with the embattled former champion, the promoter became touched by his predicament and decided on a mission to help him find his footing and get him back to the boxing gym.
Speaking on the Oluokun’s recovery and come-backing bid, Oshinmin said. “Serena Williams said ‘I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall’ Oluokun has returned to been training vigorously for three months. He’s back on his feet. He’s healthy and mentally stable after going though medical doctors that specialize in the treatment of mental, emotional, or behavioral problems.”
Finding motivation from Serena Williams’ quote and Tyson Fury’s comeback, Gbenga Oluokun is ready to come back to the ring, and his case is a potential booster to other people around the world that are suffering setbacks and those in different hopeless conditions.
“With a winner mindset, Gbenga “Bang Bang” Oluokun is looking forward to a comeback bout anytime soon”, said Oshinmin.
“I’m now better and I believe I can do it more that before because I trained twice a day now, Oluokun said.
Dr. Oladimeji Odewale, the CEO of Mocdim health and fitness center, who handled his medication, said a lot of detoxification programs had been done for him, and that is flushing of his system to reduce the alcohol in his blood streams to the barest minimum.
“He’s still has strength and is more positive than ever before. A good boxer needs somebody to tell him how good he is and I think I have been able to assure him; we placed him on treadmills and essentially worked on his stamina.
“We’ve changed his diet which was the first priority, after flushing his system as you can see we’re all over him, monitoring him and encouraging him that he can do better and I can assure you that he’s fitter to return into boxing ring and do better”, said Dr. Odewale, the Psychiatrist who claimed was once an amateur boxer.
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