By Jacob Ajom
Nigeria has never produced a world boxing champion. Debatable? One may disagree but in an interview with Saturday Sport Vanguard, former African and Commomwealth boxing champion and a former number one contender to the world superlightweight belt, Obisia Nwakpa spoke convincingly about this assertion that one could not but agree with his conclusion that although some Nigerians like Hogan Kid Bassey and Richard Ihetu a.k.a. Dick Tiger have been in the past, they were champions not made in Nigeria by Nigeria..

Obisia, a renowned former boxer who had a shot at the world title but was mysteriously unsuccessful right in Lagos, was angry when he was told that the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control would be sending a delegation to London to offer support to Nigerian born boxer, Larry Ekundayo, who is challenging British born boxer Garry Corcoran for the WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title on July 8. Although Obisia said such support was necessary, he observed that “it is coming too late.”

He questioned, “where were they (NBBoC) when the young man was growing up here in Nigeria? Ekundayo was one of my boxers. He showed a lot of promise. He was a dedicated fighter and worked very hard. But lack of necessary support forced him to go abroad,” Obisia recalled.

The veteran coach said there were still quite a number of young promising boxers in the country who need support. “It is not when they go abroad, get help from their host countries, then we will jump and quickly identify with them as Nigerians.”

He said boxers like Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey, would never have become a world champion if he had not gone to Britain in his early life. “Hogan Bassey was a British boxer who was trained by a British coach, managed by the British and fought under the British flag. He was not made in Nigeria,”Obisia insisted.

Obisia’s view was corroborated by our findings after a research on the boxer’s profile in the wikipedia. “Hogan Kid” Bassey MBE, former world featherweight champion was a Nigerian-British boxer, the first man of Nigerian descent to become a world boxing champion. He became a naturalised British when he moved to the UK, where he spent most of his life in Liverpool. He took the name Kid Bassey when he turned professional and was managed by George Biddles and trained by Jimmy August.”

The same goes for Richard Ihetu who also migrated to Liverpool in his early days to pursue his boxing career and later to the United States. Dick Tiger held the World Middleweight and World Light Heavyweight Championships.

Recently, Anthony Joshua another Nigerian born British boxer claimed the IBF, WBA and WBO titles after defeating the once invincible Vladmir Klitschko in an eye catching duel inside the iconic Wembley Stadium. Nigerian boxing officials, some of who denied young Joshua the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the Beijing Olympice were quick to claim him as “our own son.”

Obisia said the successes of boxers of Nigerian descent outside the shores of this country shows that with a little push by the relevant authorities, Nigerian boxers can reshape the global boxing power base.

Back to Ekundayo who will be fighting next weekend, Obisia said, “the Ekundayo I knew then was a very good boxer. What worries me about him now is his age. He needs our prayers. At his age, some boxers would be in their twilight. But God willing, he can still nick it.”

He said the Nigerian boxing body going to London was not a bad idea, but they should look inwards, identify the talents that are abound within the country and do the needful. “Today boxers train without fights, they look hungry and hardly meet their needs. How can we produce world champions that way?” he asked.

“We must however recognize the tremendous effort being put into Nigeria boxing by Gotv. They have breathed a new life into Nigerian boxing. “Unless we do more to produce our home made champions, we are living in borrowed robes,” Obisia said.