Nigerian Boxing Makes Me Sad

pmnews-placeholder

Chief Bisi Lawrence is the Grand Patron of Calisto Boxing Club. In this interview with Boxing In Focus, the octogenarian laments the dwindling state of Nigerian boxing and advocates the spirit of Ogbemudia as the way out of its present conundrum.

How do you feel now that a Nigerian has just won a commonwealth title?

I feel very happy about it and I think it is an important occasion for us. I was around when Hogan Bassey won the first commonwealth title for the country. I remember we could not sleep the whole night because the entire country was involved in the funfare. But you can see the contrast now. We have just won a commonwealth title and nobody seems to be concerned. Maybe time has overtaken our love for the sport. All the same, I think it is an important occasion for us. But I am sad because I wish we were more enthusiastic about it.

Are you saying that the state of boxing in the country has deteriorated?

Nigerian boxing has deteriorated very badly. But permit me to ask this general question. What has not deteriorated in the country? Almost everything has gone down in this country. At one time I thought boxing could be revived in the country but I soon realised that might be a tall order to achieve. We have one or two people who are trying to bring it up again but it is yet to regain its past glories.

What do you think can be done to regain the past glory of the sport in Nigeria?

The first thing is that we must have people that have vision and are really serious about improving the lot of the sport in the country. We also need to look at the financial aspect of it because we need money to promote boxing. We need money to acquire facilities and for the training of boxers. There are poeple who can and are willing to do it but do not know how to go about it.

There are also people who can be made to do it. Corporate organisations are included . The corporate bodies are not against boxing but they are also in it to make money. If the proposition does not give them the potential to make money they will not be bothered. But if you make the proposition attractive to them they can be pushed a bit. Then you will be surprised to see how many boxing champions that we will have in this country.

We have so many but they do not have poeple to sponsor and encourage them. There are only few poeple that are doing that but they are frustrated because they are few. We need to get people that are interested to come and contribute to the project. We have to make them interested, then boxing can come alive again.

Related News

Is there any way we can resolve this?

This is where the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control, NB of C comes in. They need to convince the corporate organisations that they will get results. You can get them to sponsor you at any stage if you have something to present. But who has really gone to talk to them? Very few people. But they also have to be convinced that you are more than one. I believe Nigerian boxing will come up again if the NBB of C can ginger up these commercial concerns.

What is the role of government in all these?

The government always has its own part to play in this. But it depends on the board to convince the government. It also depends on the government officials who are put in charge. If you put someone who does not know about sports in charge of sports then you are wasting your time. Some of our sports ministers do not see beyond soccer. We need to make them realise that they are not football ministers but sports ministers.

It was not until recently that sports was given its own portfolio. It was formerly under welfare. And unfortunately, the government does not seem to have accepted that sports is really a specialised area. That is the reason they just put anybody there as a sports minister. We have to let the spirit of Ogbemudia come back to sports.

Ogbemudia was a man who believed that he could use sports to promote national unity. And he made it happen when he was the governor of the midwest.

What is your advice for potential champions in the country?

Let me tell you one thing. If you live someone like Yakub Kareem, the newly crowned commonwealth super flyweight champion for another two years he will deteriorate very badly. You need to arrange for activities that will improve him and his vision. No one is going to get that in Nigeria. He must have been an exceptional boxer to have got to this point in his career.

There are no two ways about this. You have to get him abroad because we just do not have all the facilities and expertise here to make him go as far as he should. They need guidance that Colista gave Hogan Bassey and Dick Tiger by getting them good managers who were interested in them. Without all these, he would be relegated to the background. In another two years I will go out and challenge him.

Load more