The Nation Newspaper

Tag: BOXING

  • ‘Nigeria needs more Saturday Boxing shows’

    ‘Nigeria needs more Saturday Boxing shows’

    The Chairman, Lagos State Amatuer Boxing Association, Monsuru Liasu , has said that the “Saturday Boxing Show” has helped amateur boxers in the state  develop their skills and hopes it can be replicated in other states.

    Liasu told SportingLife recently in Lagos that the competition was good for developing boxing at the grass roots and for the boxers to show their talent.

    “We are always happy with the show because it gives our boxers the opportunity to showcase their skills.”

    “If programmes like this can be replicated by other states’ boxing associations, Nigeria would be the frontrunner when it comes to boxing in Africa.” Liasu said.

    “If you check the profiles of boxers that have been representing the country in international events you will find out that most of them are products of the monthly boxing show.”

    A representatiove form Ikoyi LDCA, Julius Solomon lauded the Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame (LBHF) investment in amateur boxing is beginning to stamp its footprints on the Nigerian boxing scene While thanking the former Commissioner for Finance and current Chairman LBHF, Mr Wale Edun for leading the initiative.

    Meanwhile, in the competition, Lion Boxing Club’s Dare Ogunyanju defeated Adeniyi Adewale of Ola Akins Boxing Club in the 49kg weight class by a 3-0 unanimous decision while the 56kg contest between Salua Nurudeen of Lagelu Boxing Club and Michael Adegboyega of Ikorodu Pioneer Boxing Club ended with the same score line in Nurudeen’s favour.

    The only female contest of the day was a one sided affair as Awise Zainab of No Shaking Boxing Club knocked out her challenger, Yemisi Akintayo of Kamlat Boxing Club in the third round to win the 51kg weight category fight and take home the Best Boxer of the Day award.

  • GOtv Boxing NextGen Search unveils new stars

    GOtv Boxing NextGen Search unveils new stars

    Twenty-six new boxing stars were on Thursday unveiled by the organisers of GOtv Boxing NextGen Search at a sport/medical seminar at the National Stadium, Lagos.

    The new stars, most of whom are in their late teens and early 20s, were those who made the cut at the GOtv Boxing NextGen Search, a talent hunt which held for two days to find new professional boxers.

    The selected boxers were palpably gleeful as their name was announced, after sparring sessions featuring over 80 boxers.

    All the selected boxers also had the pro licences paid for by the sponsors.

    The organisers also unveiled the best 15, who are slated for a two-week camping exercise at the Lagos Hall of Fame Boxing Gym beginning on Sunday. They will be trained by five coaches, who have been mandated to give them a sturdy professional foundation.

    Three of the 15 were also identified as the best participants during the hunt. They are Ebube Edeh, Saidi Lawal and Nwoye Prince, who were all given GOtv decoders. Each of the  boxers for the camping exercise also got kits, buckets, skipping rope, towels and other items needed to make them comfortable in camp. The sponsors also paid for medical examination for over 100 professional boxers present at the event.

    Jenkins Alumona, CEO of Flykite Sports, organisers of the event, disclosed that four of the new stars will fight at the GOtv Boxing Night 6 next month.

    At the seminar, boxers were advised on how to eat well, how to avoid drug abuse and how to take care of their bodies by three experienced medical doctors.

  • Lagos Boxing Championships: Youth participation to increase

    Lagos Boxing Championships: Youth participation to increase

    The Lagos Amateur Boxing  Association (LABA) has reiterated the association’s commitment towards developing amateur boxing by introducing more young boxers in their Monthly Saturday Boxing Show.

    Speaking to SportingLife on Saturday at the 70th edition of the tournament organised by Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame, the chairman of LABA,  Monsuru Liasu said calls to include more age- grade contests will be heeded and 2016 will see more age grade fights on the cards, especially in the Lagos Boxing Championship coming up later in the year.

    “I see good things in 2016 for boxing in Lagos, especially amongst the youths. The association, looking at increasing the slots for teen age boxers at LABA, sanctioned events across the state.

    “We have the structures already in place and we had coaches, referees and judges going on refresher courses last year. So we are ready for the year.”

    He further stated the importance for promoting boxing among the teeming youths in Lagos State and its environs.

    “Boxing is an individual sport with a team atmosphere that many of these adolescents can relate to. Boxing can help build their confidence, discipline and have healthy bodies. It helps them be part of a team and to feel good about themselves.”

    Meanwhile, in the competition, Badagry Boxing Club’s Isaak Oloyade defeated Abdullahi Karimu of Always Boxing Club in the 52kg weight class by a 3-0 unanimous decision while the 56kg contest between Kola Okejimi of Star Boxing Club and Tunji Okusanya of Champion Boxing Club ended in the same score line in Kola’s favour.

    The only female contest of the day was a one sided affair as Elizabeth Oshoja of Smart Boxing Club knocked out her challenger Yemisi Akintayo of Star Boxing Club in the third round to win the 54kg weight category fight.

    Fatai Balogun of Young Boxing Club walked over his opponent Chidozie Chukwu of Ashimota Boxing Club in the 91kg category as Chukwu failed his medicals earlier in the day.

    The boxing extravaganza, which is the premier amateur boxing programme in Nigeria, is coordinated by Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame in conjuction with the Lagos State Amateur Boxing Association(LABA).

  • GOtv Boxing Night: Edo Boy wins N1.5m, Light Welterweight title

    GOtv Boxing Night: Edo Boy wins N1.5m, Light Welterweight title

    Stanley “Edo Boy” Eribo, on Saturday, became the national light welterweight boxing champion when he defeated Sunday “Capo” Olalekan by knockout  at the GOtv Boxing Night V, which took place at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Lagos.

    Cheered on by the capacity crowd at the venue and using his longer as well as superior guile, Edo Boy toyed with Capo. He effectively held off his opponent’s savage punches, while delivering his own with brutal efficiency that yielded a 10th-round knockout.

    Edo Boy was adjudged the best boxer of the night, winning the cash prize of N1.5m and the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy. In another explosive title fight, Olaide “Fijaborn ” Fijabi dethroned Sadiq “Police Machine ” Ahmed as the national welterweight champion.

    Fijabi, who made his professional debut last year at the GOtv Boxing Night, was not in the charitable mood of Christmas as he thumped the Police Machine into a daze.

    The former champion became unsteady and unable to continue in the fifth round. In the night’s major bout, Nigeria’s Waidi “Skoro ” Usman lost the chance of becoming the African Boxing Union featherweight champion when he lost to Edward ” Ring Messiah” Kakembo of Uganda by a split decision.

    The Ugandan, who boasted pre-match that beating Skoro would be his Christmas gift to his countrymen, was better on the night. He was lightning-fast in offence and clever in defence, evading Skoro ‘s punches. In the national super middleweight challenge contest, Rasheed “Afonja Warrior ” Abolaji defeated Sunday “Golden Child” Ajuwa by unanimous decision. Sponsored by GOtv, the event was supported by MultiChoice, SuperSport, Paragonis Multimedia Limited, Newsbreak.ng, KSquare Security, Brila FM and Bond FM.

  • Team Lagos will retain Governor’s Belt

    Team Lagos will retain Governor’s Belt

    The Lagos boxing team chief coach, Wasiu Bisiriyu has decleared that his team is raring to go and is in top shape to retain the Governor’s Belt by defeating the Ghanaian national boxing team tomorrow at Teslim Balogun Stadium.

    “Preparations for the tournament could not have been any better, we have been in camp for the last month and have been working hard on our styles and fitness and I can authoritatively tell you that Team Lagos is ready to keep the governor’s belt Dauda Azeez won last year,” he said.

    “The Ghanaians have a long standing boxing culture and boxing has a large following over there, which is why beating them is very important because it will show how far we have developed our boxers.”

    “The boxers who will represent Lagos tomorrow are a disciplined unit and they are physically, mentally and emotionally prepared to take on any boxer, local or international,” he added.

    The coach also appreciated the efforts of Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame and GOtv  for support rendered to boxing and urged more support for sports in general from corporate bodies.

    “Boxing had a successful year in 2015, GOtv Boxing Night and the Monthly Saturday Boxing Show brought boxing to the public limelight and kept both amateur and professional boxers busy all year round.”

    “Both are laudable initiatives and we hope it continues to unearth boxing talents. We hope more corporate bodies recognise the huge potentials in sports and partner with the sporting community to sponsor a number of programmes that will positively impact the lives of youths.”

    The Governor’s Belt starts by 2pm tomorrow at the at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports hall of Teslim Balogun stadium in while the GOtv Boxing Night comes up later at the National stadium both in Surulere, Lagos.

  • Lagos Boxing Championships: Akintayo ,Arowolo progress to finals

     

    Ikorodu enjoyed a rare afternoon of boxing as it hosted the semi finals of the Lagos Boxing Championship for the first time.

    The event saw Star Boxing Club’s Femi Akintayo and Arowolo Dele of Always Boxing Club progressing to the finals.

    Akintayo, a middleweight won the bout of the day award against Babatunde Jato, seeing off the Ashimota Boxing Club pugilist by a technical knockout in the second round at the D’Jos Events centre despite his opponent taking the first round.

    ‘I am happy to defeat Babatunde to progress to the finals. He is a very tough fighter and defeating him by a knockout shows how much progress I have made as an athlete.’

    ‘After the first round I knew I had to come out because he was going to come at me. I just gave it all I had and I was able to dish out a flurry of punches which the referee felt was too much for him to handle and he stopped the fight.’

    ‘It was nice for my family to be able to watch me and winning the boxer of the day award is an added incentive for me to be a much better boxer.’

    His opponent, Jato was visibly upset and promises to learn from his defeat

    “I am disappointed, I know I could beat him, I was the better boxer in the first round,” he said.

    “He was different in the second round, very fast. I will learn from it.”

    Akintayo is set to fight Arowolo Dele, whose fight against Shina John was a walkover. John had failed his mandated medicals earlier in the day.

  • Lagos Boxing Championships goes to Ikorodu

    Lagos Boxing Championships goes to Ikorodu

    On Saturday,  September 26, Ikorodu will see its first set of punches, jabs, hooks and maybe  some knock outs, as the rustic town of an estimated 700,000 population is set to host its first ever Lagos Boxing Championship.

    The Lagos Amateur Boxing Association (LABA) with the support of Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame is holding the third semifinals of the Lagos Boxing Championships,  the nation’s most prestigious amateur boxing tournament at D’ Jos hotels, Ijede, Ikorodu.

    Speaking to SportingLife, the chairman of LABA, Monsuru Laisu said as part of its vision to develop the sport in Lagos, the association will be taking the sport to all corners of the state.

    “The stakeholders of boxing in Lagos realised that for the game to gain more popularity it has to take the tournament to other parts of the state.”

    “The boxing programme has been shuttled between Rowe Park in Yaba and Telsim Balogun stadium over the years and we felt it is high time we change location.

    “Ikorodu is the perfect place to start our Boxing-Show-On-The-Road initiative because there is a rich heritage of boxing there.

    “The current WBC Continental Americas Cruiser-weight champion, Olanrewaju Durodola is a local boy and he started boxing from the streets of Ikorodu”

    He also spoke of plans to take the monthly Saturday boxing show to populated areas of the state to maximise their crowd potentials.

    “We are looking at Oshodi or Agege for the next on the road project that will come at the end of October.

    “Coincidentally, it would be the finals of the championships and we are looking at taking advantage of the high population densities of those areas because some of the finalists are locals and can pull a lot of fans for the championships.”

  • I wish we had GOtv Boxing Night in my days – Okorodudu

    I wish we had GOtv Boxing Night in my days – Okorodudu

    Former Olympian, Jerry  Okorodudu, has expressed regret that an initiative like the GOtv Boxing Night was  not available in his days as an active boxer.

    Okorodudu, who participated at the 1984 Olympics, said this during a press conference held in Lagos to announce the second edition of the GOtv Boxing Night, a six fight professional competition, slated for  March 15 at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Lagos.

    In his message to the 12 boxers billed to fight at the GOtv Boxing Night, Okorodudu advised that they should take the competition seriously by training well and conducting themselves properly to encourage GOtv, headline sponsors of the competition, to continue their sponsorship of the event .

    “Boxers need to take GOtv Boxing Night seriously.GOtv is spending enormous sums to bring the glory days of boxing back.

    ” The least you can do is to keep encouraging them to keep on sponsoring the competition. If you do this, other sponsors will come and join GOtv and boxing will be back on its feet,”  he said.

    Okorodudu, currently a national boxing coach, added that he regrets that a similar initiative did not exist in his active days. “If we had an opportunity like the one GOtv is currently offering boxers, we would have done considerably better, probably become world champions in my days.

    “Nigeria has always had  boxing talents, but there was little or no encouragement to make us realise our potential,” he added.

    GOtv Boxing, conceived to revive the flagging fortunes of boxing, debuted last November. Aside from GOtv, it is sponsored by Custodian Life Assurance Limited, MultiChoice, SuperSport, KSquare Security, Paragonis Multimedia Limited and supported by Complete Sports, PM News and Newsbreak.ng.

    The second edition, as with the maiden one, will feature fights in different weight categories.   In  the biggest fights on the night, Waidi “Skoro” Usman, who emerged National Featherweight champion at the maiden edition of the GOtv Boxing Night, will take on Ghana’s Alfred “Ahwor” Qauye in a 12-round West African title bout.

    Another eye-catching bout will be between Adewale “Tiger” Abbey, National Heavyweight champion, who will defend his title against Tope “Young” Ogunshinusi over 12 rounds.

    Fights on the cards also include the 10-round National Light Middleweight elimination fight between Jamiu Animashaun and Wahab “Hammer” Adebisi; as well as the National Light Welterweight elimination contest between Waliu Arogundade and Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi.

    Other fights are the Light Middleweight challenge between Sunday “Capo” Olalekan and Tombraye “Tornado” Christmas as well the Lightweight challenge between Otto “Joe Boy” Joseph and Kehinde Badmus.

     

  • Lagos-based boxing club proprietor begs for kits

    The Head Coach, Sunny Clay Boxing Club of Lagos, Sunday Nwamuda, on Thursday appealed to corporate organisations and philanthropists to donate kits to the upcoming boxers of the club.

    Nwamuda made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos. He said that insufficient kits were a major challenge affecting the boxers during training in the club affiliated to the Lagos State Boxing Association.

    Nwamuda said the few available ones were not enough to go round the number of young boxers, describing the kits as fundamental for training and protection of boxers.

    “We have some but the number of athletes are increasing by the day and that has prompted us to make the appeal for more kits. Sometimes the boxers will have to wait for others to finish training before they can make use of the kits,’’ he said.

    The coach listed the kits as head guard, gloves, knee protector, tooth guard and tummy guard and identified them as basic requirements for the sport.

    Nwamuda said the club holds quarterly competitions for boxers, noting that none of the competitions had been organised since the beginning of the year due to a lack of support.

    According to him, such support can come in form of funds, corporate gift items, scholarships and stationeries.

    “These items are to encourage the athletes so that they can be more committed to developing their talents,’’ he said.

    He said that the last competition organised by the club was held in September 2014, adding that it created the avenue for the discovery of budding talents.

  • BOXING HALL OF FAME: ‘Boxing should be part of School Sports Festival’

    BOXING HALL OF FAME: ‘Boxing should be part of School Sports Festival’

    THE Technical Director of the Lagos State Amateur Boxing Association Joe Mensah has called on stakeholders of the School Sports Festival to include boxing as one of the participating sports in the festival to enhance the growth of boxing in Nigeria.

    Mensah, who made this known at the 55th edition of the Monthly Saturday Boxing Show, held at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Center, Yaba, Lagos State, added that the elimination of boxing in the School Sports Festival tournament had done more harm than good to the country as lads are no longer exposed on time to the game of boxing.

    “One thing Nigeria is missing is not involving boxing in the School Sports Federation,” Mensah began, “boxing is not in the School Sport Federation or in the University Games and that is not good for us”.

    “Boxing is not in the Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) and that is not good for us, it draws the game backwards. I think the government or those in charge can put that in place, and make boxing a participating sport where young talents could be found,” he added.

    In a bid to develop young boxers in the country which is the main objective of the Monthly Saturday Boxing Show, the highlight of the show featured five-year-old kids in the 21kg, Bamidele Emmanuel of Morning Star Nursery and Primary school Orile, against Abibu Ojo of Nkem Nursery and Primary School Mafoluku, displaying their talents in an exhibition match.

    Reacting to the exhibition match, Mensah dismissed age barrier in boxing, rather, he saw it as a means of growing boxers who can bring glory to the country as a whole. Thus, he also hailed the Monthly Saturday Boxing Show for its initiative in developing stars in boxing.

    “Kids fighting at the age of five are not too young,” Mensah said. “When you go abroad you see young boxers at age three training, brought by their parents. By the time they are seventeen they represent their countries at different international levels which is not so in Nigeria. So, it’s a good way to see these young kids fight at this edition of the boxing hall of fame.”

    “If all the states can introduce this kind of programme in all the states and sponsored by individuals or government, I think it will go a long way in building boxing as a whole in the country,” he added.

    Other fixtures involved Kuwam Olawale of Young Star Nursery and Primary School thrashing Wahab Kukoyi of Azeedy Nursery and Primary School 3-0 in the 28kg category. In the 52kg category Okejimi Kolade of Alakoto Senior Secondary School, Ajegunle, outshined Taofeek Taiwo of Ojodu Senior Secondary School, Ojodu, 3-0. Tawa Awise of Aderele Senior Secondary School, Ipaja, defeated Deola Oyesuji of Muslim Junior Secondary School, Oworonsoki, in the 48kg female category.

    Champions’ Boxing Club’s Ibraheem Taofeek defeated Atlas Boxing Club’s Oyelami Olumide in a unanimous decision in the 60kg category. In the 69kg category, Oyegunwa Taiwo of Ojodu Ogba Boxing Club thrashed Saheed Lawal of W.T.T Boxing Club 3-0 also, Elegbede Samuel of Smart Boxing Club defeated Muritala Apampa of Star Boxing Club 3-0. Dayo Okenla of Always Boxing Club had no reason to celebrate as he was denied victory by Shina John of Champions’ Boxing Club, while Seyi Oroju of Police Boxing Club outpunched Femi Akintayo of Star Boxing Club 2-1 both in the 75kg. And in the 90kg category Gabriel Francis of Lion Boxing Club thrashed Olaitan Ganiu of Glorius Boxing Club 3-0 to end the Monthly Saturday Boxing Show.