I was inducted into the community of boxing aficionados by the sheer prowess of the boxing prodigy, Iron Mike Tyson, from the second half of the 1980s. Tyson at the tender age of 20 had knocked down Trevor Berbick, the WBC Heavyweight Champion, making him the youngest in history to achieve such a feat. And if my memory still stands by me, Trevor Berbick went down three times under the weight of a single wallop from Tyson in the second round of the bout. He did not survive that round. Thus began a new epoch in the history of heavyweight boxing championship in the world.
Within a space of twelve months, the stocky pugilist had unified the titles – World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organisation (WBO), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) – to emerge the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. How interesting was it in those days watching Don King savour one victory after another with Mike Tyson!
Then came from nowhere in Tokyo, Japan in 1990, one James ‘Buster’ Douglas – surely one of the pretenders we had thought. Mike Tyson, at the apogee of his career and for the first time since that historic day of November 22nd, 1986, lay prostrate in the ring. It was the beginning of the end of an era in boxing. No one prepared for it. This rookie of a champion would surely take the spectacle and dollars off the championship. The boxing associations would not take the contretemps in their strides. Douglas had been knocked down in round eight of that encounter but the referee was slow in counting, otherwise Tyson should have retained his title. After much shilly-shally, the victory of Douglas was recognised.The idyllic days were over, giving way to mediocre, lacklustre or exiguous-dollar bouts. Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis essayed some sparks but only sparks they were. Heavyweight championship was on descent to a farce. Having lost the ardour, fusslessly, I slipped out of that fraternity until… Samuel Okon Peter, a Nigerian, emerged the WBC Heavyweight Champion in March 2008. I was full of ecstasies.
I imagined watching the eccentric promoter, Don King, stand beside our own Samuel Peter. For me, it’s like a visceral wish come true. If only Don King had cared about his ancestry, he would have discovered he’s from Ake, Abeokuta or Isara, Remo. He would have realised that our own Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate, was his twin brother! As the unification bouts began, I fantasised the duo stand in the ring with Samuel Peter in the middle – what a spectacle to behold! Then the mellifluous voice of the veteran ring announcer, Jimmy Lennon Jnr.: “Ladies and gentlemen, IT’S SHOWTIME!”
Flummoxed, I tried to figure out what was going on in Peter’s corner. It was in Berlin, Germany on Saturday, 11 October, 2008. Then in a flash, the camera beamed on Vitali Klitschko’s corner; his hands were up in victory. “What’s happening here?” I wondered. “Has Peter capitulated? Has Samuel Peter gone to Berlin to hand over the WBC belt he won in Cancun, Mexico on 8 March, 2008 to Vitali Klitschko without a fight? In fact, Klitschko turned Samuel Peter into a training material. It was a caricature of Peter that surrendered and refused to step into the ring for Round 9.
Of course, in the eye of his brother, Wladmir Klitschko – the IBF and WBO heavyweight champion – and the fans, Vitali had done a pukka job. But boxing connoisseurs were not impressed (with the divisions in the heavyweight). The Klitschko brothers had vowed not to fight each other.
The Klitschko brothers, it seemed, came to ruin the sport through their lackluster and anaemic performance in the ring. I once fantasised the WBC, WBA, IBO and IBF paying off the brothers and sending them into early retirement in order to rescue and restore the glory and glamour of the sport. I did not know another Nigerian was waiting in the wings to send the reigning Klitschko into retirement.
Like a bolt from the blue, the news hit the airwaves in April 2017 that another Nigerian, Anthony Oluwafemi Joshua, had claimed the IBF and WBO heavyweight belts from Wladmir Klitschko via a knock-out. 20 professional fights, 20 knock-outs! He is from Ogun State. The governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, will celebrate you no matter how small or big you are once you’ve shown the Ogun Standard – courage, colour, excellence! The Nigerian-born British fighter did it on the biggest stage. The British fans (not football) have a character that is different from their American counterparts. There is this sense of occasion that perfumes the air. Wembley! 90,000 fans! What a match! The glamour is back! An Ogun indigene has made the country proud again. Governor Amosun is excited. Joshua is the first Nigerian to hold the IBF and WBO titles. Although Joshua is described as a Nigerian-born British fighter, he likes to associate with his home. He says eba and egusi (local staple food) is the source of his success! He hails from Sagamu and schooled in Ijebu Ode, during his early years.
Joshua wants to come back to Sagamu; he wants to visit his own people in Nigeria. He says he wants to meet with the governor. He wants to bring something back to his own people. Therefore, it was not surprising that Governor Amosun himself should be at the ringside when Anthony Joshua squared up to Carlos Takam at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, before nearly 80,000 fans penultimate Saturday. State matters, however, ensured Amosun could only be represented by a powerful delegation led by the Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Yetunde Onanuga. On sighting the Deputy Governor, Anthony Joshua displayed another Ogun Standard by greeting her the Yoruba way – prostrating!
Should any responsible governor have ignored a young man like Joshua who wishes to associate with his roots; who’s proud of his heritage; a typical omoluabi (well bred), to choose the word of the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Barr Taiwo Adeoluwa? The other day, Amosun hosted some primary school students of Ogun for excelling in sports. The other time, it was the Wife of the Governor, Mrs Olufunso Amosun, through her NGO, that took the best WAEC students from all the 20 local councils on leadership excursion to the United Kingdom. They were all from public schools and it was the first time in Nigeria that students would be brought on such a trip through merit, according to the then High Commissioner, Dalhatu Tafida.
I think we need a Democracy College in Nigeria. Even if you can’t praise the governor, you can at least keep your mouth shut! Must the opposition always oppose everything, including selfless gestures by Amosun? Must you criticise for the sake of it? Must you bring politics into everything? Has there been any government in the world that did everything, solved all problems? Will there ever be such a government?
Congratulations to Anthony Joshua, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, the good people of Ogun State, President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians at large for these historic boxing feats.
Soyombo, is the media Aide to the Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun.
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