18th September, 2019
Bernard Otunola, a boxing promoter and matchmaker, has said that he was involved in promoting boxing not only because of his passion for it but that boxing lacked corporate sponsorship in Nigeria.
Otunola, the founder of UnBoxx Sports and Co-Founder CornerWise Entertainment said on Wednesday in Lagos that his passion is to contribute his quota by taking boxing to the next level.
“Taking boxing in Nigeria to the next level is not a hard job to do, but everything depends solely on how cooperative the people involved in the business are.
“There are so many Nigerian talented combat sports athletes but they lack the platform to showcase their talents or won’t be selected to represent a state due to politics.
“We have a few female boxers, very good ones but they can’t move forward because no platform to do so and no proper training facilities.
“We want to break the odds and push for the best way forward, and to do this we need each other as no man is an island,“ the Co-Founder of Lasgidi Fight Night said.
He said that they only had two functional boxing promotion companies in MMA, but without considering that they have to move from this level to the next, they want to raise the bar.
He noted that all hands must be on deck for the success of the upcoming boxing event which will be held on Sept. 20 at the Jalisco Gym, Bolade-Oshodi in Lagos.
Otunola said that they were mentally and physically prepared for it, while also noting that one of the challenging parts in boxing in Nigeria was the fact that the sport lacked corporate sponsorship.
“Government can start by passing it into law that corporate bodies should find a way to partner with boxing promoters to take boxing in Nigeria to the next level.
“When this is done more sports lovers will rise to play a big role in shouldering the development of the sports,” he said.