Boxers and fans alike at the 111th edition of the Lagos Monthly Saturday Show took time to thank the organizers for not abandoning the sport when sporting activities have been at a lull due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The show, which is held every last Saturday of the month, was on a hiatus for more than a year due to COVID-19 restrictions and opened its door to boxing fans at the Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium last weekend.

For 2018 Youth Olympics silver medallist, the return of the Saturday show could not have come any better as she had been struggling to keep herself ring fit for future national team engagements.

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“I must confess that I haven’t been training that much during the pandemic lockdown,” She said. “To be back in the ring is a thing of joy, it just remains for me to shake off my ring rustiness and get back to top form for the national boxing team.”

For Adebayo Basit, who beat Taiwo Abiodun by a unanimous decision, the most difficult part of the past year was finding sparring partners to practice with.

“I am happy to be back. Covid-19 disrupted my programme,” he said. “But I am grateful to God that the ban on sporting activities has been lifted.”

“Getting boxers to spar was quite a challenge, we couldn’t do much because most of the boxers we trained with were ones we already knew very well so new techniques were difficult to acquire.”