The recently departed Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi III was many things; a king, the keeper of Yoruba customs and beliefs, a political Behemoth, a fashion icon and a connoisseur of fine women. But Oba Lamidi was also a sportsman, a footballer, boxer and long distance runner. NationSports takes a look at some of Kabiyesi’s forays into sports, especially boxing where he was renowned for his prowess as a young man, philanthropy and showmanship even at an advanced age. OLUWAMAYOMIKUN OREKOYA and LANRE AGIRI report.
On the 22nd April 2022, the longest reigning Alaafin of Oyo in history, The Grand Custodian of Yoruba Culture and Tradition and the political ruler of Yorubas, Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi III joined his illustrious predecessor at the Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State, after reportedly suffering complications related to prostate enlargement.
Famous for his taste in fashion and even more impeccable taste with beautiful women, Oba Lamidi was also famous for his boxing prowess when he was a young man, and remained a good ambassador for the sports all through his 83 years on Earth and 51 years as Alaafin.
The Late Oba Adeyemi took up boxing while growing up in Lagos. Oba Lamidi’s father had sent him to live with his friend Kofoworola Abayomi, a medical doctor in Ikoyi and was enrolled to study in Obalende Modern School. The late monarch registered with Broadway Boxing Club, where Mike Fadipe coached him, in order to survive bullying in Obalende. He would later rise to become a knockout specialist, fighting in competitions inside the prestigious Glover Memorial Hall in Lagos Island. The late Oba in a past interview revealed he had over 56 bouts under his belt and had lost just two fights.
While Kabiyesi was an avid boxer, he also took other sports seriously and was once a very good footballer and distance runner. According to him, he was nicknamed Stanley Matthews by his peers because of his dribbling skills which was also identical to the English legend who in the 50s was considered one of the greatest footballers of that era. His forays into sports at an early age inspired him to focus on sports, especially boxing as part of his philanthropic endeavours in the general society.
“During my youthful days there were some people who noticed my talents and went on to develop me, without them, I wouldn’t have reached or realized my potential in the game of boxing, so, I think I should put back to society what I have gained from it.”
“In those days, I was also a footballer, and people knew me very well in Lagos island in the 50s as the local Stanley Mathews because of my dribbling skills, Stanley Mathew was one of the greatest British footballers who played active football until the age of 50,” he added.
Kabiyesi also revealed that the main reason he took up boxing was to develop character and not to win medals or gain fame.
“I was also a long distance runner, they call it a cross country race, covering 10, 50, 60 miles and I won laurels. It was that ability and endurance that made me go to boxing. I went to boxing primarily to develop character; the character I mean is discipline.
“No taking of alcoholic drinks, no womanizing, no involvement in all social vices. And in those days when I participated in boxing tournaments with Ejigbo Boxing Club, Western Boxing Club, what do we win?, they give us underwear singlet, towel, tennis-shoes as prizes and we’re very proud of it, no money prizes like today, and when I won a bout in Ghana while representing Nigeria, what I got was 5 shillings and it was very big to me.
“It was not the matter of money but the recognitions attached to it and the national importance, so I derived joy in assisting youths, we have organized 2 years ago a national Under-13 football competition, where pupils from every states in the federations came to participate and we discovered about 5 talented kids that went into national U-13 camp from the tourney.”
The rot in Nigeria boxing was not lost to late Kabiyesi and over the years he had expressed his disappointment in the state of affairs concerning the sport. Kabiyesi was very sad when Nigeria could not even produce a single boxer to represent the country at the last Olympics.
He also faulted the government for not showing interest or even probing previous shambolic performances in international competitions and expressed his dismay on how past sporting heroes were abandoned after spending the prime years of their lives giving their best for the nation.
“My disappointment was not only in boxing, even the much celebrated football, we are not making a conscious effort in this country to organize our sports the way it should be done, our football team almost got stranded at where they went for a training tour, arriving at the venue few hours to the kick-off of our first game.
“All these are disgraceful to a nation like Nigeria, it seems our administrators don’t care about it, even the federal government doesn’t probe into all the scandalous outings.
“I want to give credit to the boys, in spite of the many hindrances on their way, that is determination and patriotism, but determination and patriotism are not enough for sportsmen and women to excel in the sporting world, there should be proper preparations.
“Coming back to boxing where we had few boxers, nobody cares about the welfare of our boxers, after most of our boxers pass their pick, is either they died of hardship or terminal ailments; we still have many of them around wallowing in abject poverty, look at Fatai Ayinla, Dele Jonathan, they all died in bad circumstances, and nobody cares about them and when they were active boxers they brought honour and glories to Nigeria, Fatai Ayinla was an heavyweight boxer with dangerous left punches.
“We can continue to mention many others like that. Nobody cares for our past themselves can be inducted and remembered by the unborn generations. I think what could revive and stabilize our sports in this country is to have a concrete sports policy. Until the country begins to take care sporting heroes, it’s not fair. We don’t have a hall of fame where sport’s people that have distinguished of its sportsmen and women and formulate a policy to assist them after their active days, our lost glory can be restored.”
The Late Alaafin was an advocate for corporate bodies coming into the sporting environment to invest which would address the scourge of athletes missing tournaments and not developing to their full potential.
“Let me use this medium to appeal to other well-meaning Nigerians and corporate organizations to assist the nation in developing our talented youths,” he said. “All the stakeholders in our sporting life have a share in the blame which led to the decline noticed in our sports, we are not always sincere with our grassroots development and that is why we are not getting the desired results.
“But permit me to say that what is happening here today is a step in the right direction, development of sports is capital intensive and that is why we cannot leave it to the government alone to shoulder.”