SCORE CARD: THE STATE OF BOXING IN NIGERIA

As the year gradually winds down, the urge to talk about boxing in my country became increasingly irresistible. The temptation swept me off balance hence am writing about the state of the game. In the past,

the pound game was so interesting that it became the number two sports in Nigeria, second only to football,the followership was massive, the excitement was top class, and it produced such rivalry among fighters that made the sport marketable. Fight’s like Jos Lasisi against Jerry Okorodudu was one of such fights.

Names like late Dick Tiger, Hogan Kid Bassey, Godwin Anyamena, Ngozika Ekwelum, Obisia Nwakpa, Hunter Clay, Joe Lasisi, Jerry Okorodudu, Hakeem Ishola and many more, became national and international icons, we had great prospect, and our boxers dominated Africa and at some point won world titles.

I remembered vividly, though as a child, I watched Godwin Anyamena win a world title at the national stadium; he was later stripped of the title.

The sport continued to enjoy followership through out the 80’s up till mid 90’s, suddenly we began to witness a decline. First the NBB of C become embroiled in power tussle, which was never resolved, owing to this, Amateur boxing suffered lots of set backs. The democratic dispensation saw some individuals

scheming for Governors to become sports association chairman, which also contributed heavily to setting the game backward, for it was clear that the intention was not primarily to develop the sports at the grass root level rather it was for other reasons. National Championship is fast becoming extinct,
the amateur show at Rowe Park, Yaba where upcoming boxers test their might, is no longer a matter of importance, the Olympic game is at hand but back home its like the game will not hold.

The nation’s amateur boxing team sweats it out at the national stadium on daily basis under the experience and watchful eyes Obisia Nwakpa,but the question is, what is the level of preparation like? How is their welfare, what is their psychological state, are they confident that they will win any medal at the Olympics? These questions must be answered before we can make impact in boxing again.

The state of boxing in our land is so worrisome, most often the only boxing news we get to hear are foreign ones. The boxing fraternity got excited recently only because of Samuel Peters, and now we have to wait until 2, February 2008 to get excited again. That apart, another time we get to hear boxing news is when Bash Ali comes up with a promotion of some sort, my only concern is why does he promote only his own fight and turns around to claim Jesus of boxing. Oscar De La Hoya is a promoter and does promote other fights other than his. But even at that, I still give kudos to Bash.

Furthermore, boxing news hits the air waves only when the plight of the game is in focus, recently coach Obisia lamented bitterly about missing a Championship abroad, which would have helped the boxers gain exposure before the Olympic Games comes up in China next year.

A quick glance at the above, would present one fact and that is I have mixed Professional boxing and Amateur boxing together, this is not because I don’t know the distinction but the truth is that both aspects of boxing is in bad shape in the land. The amateur arm is still kicking but at a very low capacity.

As I said earlier those who are into the sport are doing so purely out of passion, looking at the sports, it’s going to be difficult for parents to allow their wards take to boxing. What then is the problem of boxing in Nigeria?

Firstly, you can’t talk about building a house without a foundation. The fact is that our boxing administration’s foundation has been rocked and the focus of the association is suspect “Those who claim to be members of the NBB of C are doing nothing to promote good boxing in Nigeria” so says Hakeem Ishola, speaking further he said “I left boxing because things started to go awry in the profession. There

was no encouragement on the part of the administrators. The boxing managers do not know the sufferings of boxers. They are not interested in the welfare of boxers, it is only when those who know what professional boxing is, are brought on stage, that boxing can move forward. Ishola who is now a police inspector was trained by the legendary boxing coach Archie Moore and won a gold medal at the 1979 national sports festival, he turned pro in 1984 and became the junior lightweight champion of Africa in 1991 when he fought and won Sam Akroma of Ghana.

The situation becomes more worrisome when we understand that, the crisis in NBB of C is still on. Recently a faction of the body that is seen as the authentic executives invited the other party that is seen as fake to come on board if they are willing to do so.
These scenarios have not only forestalled the development of boxing but have made boxing become endangered “specie” and as such should be saved from extinction. Lending his voice to the situation on ground, Joe Lasisi (Former WBC Light Heavyweight number one contender) sates “it was painful that NBB of C was currently engulfed in crisis.. However, aside all this drama my major worry is how we can come up with lasting solutions that can move the sport forward. I am of the opinion that the present board be allowed to finish its tenure of in office, after which lasting structure be put in place to ensure such crisis does not arise. Am also of the opinion that people with boxing administration experience should run the sports, a situation where people who don’t have pedigree in boxing run the sport is totally confusing.

As the saying goes, when two elephant fights, it is the grass that suffers. The youths who have taken to boxing as a means of livelihood are the ones bearing the pain. This explains why most boxers prefers to move abroad at the slightest opportunity and most of them change their nationality and fight for their

adopted countries, so they can make headway in their career, an example of this is David “The Dream” Defiagbon who is now a Canadian citizen and won a silver medal for his adopted country (Canada) in 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta. Another laughable situation, is a case where the board and top government

officials pour encomium on boxers who have had hit it big whereas, in actual fact they are the ones who have tried to destroy the dream of that boxer by not providing the needed platform for development.

I use this medium to call on all those who are involved in this crisis to strive and save the sport from total extinction.