Kickboxing: Okwor Wins WKA African Title

Nigeria’s Ejike Okwor at the weekend emerged the World Kickboxing and Karate Association, WKA, African champion in the -81kg Full Contact class.

He defeated his opponent from Cameroon in the African title bout, organised by the Combat Sports Promotions under the auspices of the Kickboxing Federation of Nigeria, KBFN.

The bout tagged ‘The Fight Night at the Mediterranean’ saw the Nigerian out-kicked his Cameroonian opponent, Antibe Zanger Adalbert 2-1 to win the much sought after title.

With this victory, Okwor became the WKA holder of the -81 kg Pro-Am African title.

‘The Fight Night,’ staged in Abuja, was attended by top government functionaries and members of the diplomatic corps. It also saw action in the WKA National title bout for the -75kg Full Contact National title between Nigerian Army officer, Olakunle Awoyele and Akwa Ibom states’ Victor Bassey.

It was a very tough fight that ended in a unanimous decision with Olakunle Awoyele of the Nigerian Army winning the bout to become Nigeria’s first National -75kg Full Contact Champion in the Pro-Am division.

The third bout was an African title fight between Nigeria’s Akeem Sadiku and Cameroon’s Akama Oyono for the K1 Max African title.

Sadiku won by a technical knock-out in the second round to become African Champion in K1 max.

The final bout was the women’s world title bout between Ukrainian Valentyna Gupalo and Nigeria’s Hellen Jospeh.

In the very keenly contested bout, the Nigerian fighter came through with a lot of kicks and punches in the first round, but the Ukrainian superior points in the second and third rounds were enough to give Gupalo a 2-1 victory to become the WKA Pro-Am World Champion in the -65kg weight class.

The Kickboxing Federation of Nigeria has promised more world title bouts in Nigeria in months to come, and more shows to give Nigerians the opportunity to enjoy a new form of entertainment, where the body will fuse combat sports and entertainment for that unique blend of show business.