17th December, 2010
Just like the second quarter, where the South Africa 2010 World Cup stole the show, the third quarter under review was also dominated by the buildup to the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games making it impossible for both amateur and professional shows to be held in the country.
The quarter started on a high with the FESTAC Youth Boxing Club and Academy commending the Executive Chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Comrade Ayodele Adewale for giving their gym a new look, while the Chief Coach Oluwafemi Sholanke charged the board of the Nigeria Boxing Federation, NBF to intensify preparations for the Commonwealth Games, which was held in India in October.
Conscious of the fact that boxing is a sport that always fetches Nigeria medals in international competitions, the NBF quickly got down to work as they staged a National Open Championship as a trial to select boxers for the Commonwealth Games.
The Open Championship tagged Sunshine Tournament was bankrolled by Ondo State government, with boxers coming from all states of federation to fight for places in the national team.
It was Team Lagos that stole the show at the tournament. This earned them accolades from chairman of Lagos State Sports Council, Agboola Dabiri, who said that the boxers were good ambassadors of the state. He noted that the council would leave nothing to chance to ensure were taken care of.
After taking a cursory look at the performance of boxers at the tournament, the then president of the NBF, Rotimi George-Taylor, boasted that the federation was on course for the Commonwealth Games.
When Boxing In Focus contacted the sports administrator on the preparedness of the board for the Commonwealth Games, he said: “Based on the performance of boxers in Ondo State, I knew we have a pool where we can pick good boxers and camp them ahead of the Games. The Games seems far away, but we believe it is not. We have to go back to the drawing board to see how to prepare the selected boxers for the competition.”
Convinced that the country has good amateur boxers that can hold their own anywhere against any opponent, but with no standard boxing facilities to keep them in great shape, the NBF through the National Sports Commission, NSC, embarked on a marathon renovation of Brai Ayonote Boxing Gym to enable the boxer train before the planned training tour of Europe.
To the suprise of the boxers, the NSC informed the NBF that the proposed training tour had been cancelled becuase of lack of funds. The board of the still have the confident that the boxers would perform well in India desipte the cancellation of the tour.
The third quarter also witnessed one anniversary of the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame, an amateur boxing championship, which holds every last Saturday of the month.
Action later shifted to the professional category, where Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare†Peter lost an opportunity to reclaim his World Boxing Council, WBC, Heavyweight title as he was pummelled by Wladimir Klitschko.
After the fight, former national boxing team coach, Samson Aransiola, advised the Akwa Ibom state-born professional pugilist to call it quit.
Former National Cruiserweight champion, Chidi Enuma, also disclosed in an interview with Boxing In Focus that he is back and better.
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