Top Nigerian boxers duel in Lagos competition

The Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos, will on 1 May witness one of the biggest grudge fights in Nigeria’s boxing history.

It will see Nurudeen “Prince” Fatai, reigning national lightweight champion, defend his crown against savage puncher Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph in the headline bout of GOtv Boxing Night 7, organisers announced in Lagos on Wednesday.

The fight, which has twice been rescheduled on account of injury to the champion, will offer Nurudeen the chance to redeem himself after being knocked out in the fifth round of their explosive challenge clash at GOtv Boxing Night 4.
Jenkins Alumona, Managing Director of Flykite Promotions, organisers of the event, said at a press conference that the time is ripe for the two boxers to test themselves again.

“The fight was twice shifted because of injury to Nurudeen, who is an explosive boxer in his own right. The challenger is one of the rising stars of Nigerian boxing and previous winner of the best boxer award at GOtv Boxing Night. The fight has all the ingredients of a thriller: grudge, determination, chance for glory and an eye on the N1million cash prize for the best boxer,” he said.

Sponsored by GOtv, the event is sanctioned by the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control and supported by MultiChoice, Paragonis Multimedia Limited, Complete Sports, KSquare Security, Newsbreak.ng, Brila FM, Bond FM and SuperSport. SuperSport will broadcast it live in 47 African countries.

Five other fights are lined up for the event. In the cruiserweight division, Idowu “Noble” Okusote will fight Chibuzor “Chibunky” Vincent.

Another lightweight clash will see Osamudiamen “Shiso” Goodluck, a graduate of the GOtv Boxing NextGen Search, duel with exciting Rilwan “Real One” Oladosu.

The middleweight category brings together Chukwuebuka “Wise King” Ezewudo and Ganiyu “Energy” Kolawole, both graduates of GOtv Boxing NextGen Search.

Another graduate of the search, Godwin “Emirate” will make his professional bow when he takes on Ebenezer ‘Anambra Tiger” Okoli in a heavyweight challenge bout.