Boxing: Sadness and joy

                                                                     By Clem Oluwole

Last Sunday was a mixed grill for Nigerian sports disciples, boxing followers in particular. Inside the Main Bowl of the National Stadium, Lagos, three international bouts were decided. Hogan Jimoh and compatriot Young Alli let us down as the Giant of Africa by losing woefully to their Zimbabwean opponents in their respective clashes. But soldier-boy Obisia Nwakpa wiped off our tears by out-pointing Argentinean Juan Gimenez in the world elimination bout for the super lightweight crown.

When the date for the Obisia-Juan duel was fixed and the countdown began, I must confess here and now that I had my fears. What frightened me was the record of the rugged man from Argentina. Since turning professional in 1977, Juan Joe Gimenez, born on April 4, 1950, had not lost any fight as at December 18, 1980. In fact, in 1977 alone, he had a total of 12 fights and won eight via knockouts.

In 1978, he had seven fights, winning five by knockouts. The following year, he took on seven opponents and won two via knockouts. And last year, he had seven outings, ending four by knockouts. I became more worried when Dele Jonathan issued a warning to Obisia about the lethal Argentinean. To compound my state of mind, I did not know what to write about the Argentine for the benefit of Obisia because I had not seen Juan fight before. Not even Obisia had ever had the opportunity.

Days were running fast… at least so it seemed to me. And I began to recall the past happenings in Nigerian boxing. First I remembered the glories brought to this country by Hogan Bassey and the late Dick Tiger. Then I remembered with my heart beating unsteadily, the exit of Eddy Ndukwu who lost his featherweight crown to Patrick Ford of Guyana in September, 1980, at the time we were banking on the Nigerian to power forward for the world title. Then I remembered Ray Amoo who surrendered his African flyweight title to Kenyan Steve Muchoki in October, last year. I could not forget how Hogan Jimoh, the only human Atomic Bomb on earth, lost his own crown to Langton Tinago of Zimbabwe on a Sunday night … December 7, 1980 to be precise. Then there was the March 8 date for Obisia. Oh yes, I also remember how potential heavyweight material, Ngozika Ekwelum, came home from his base in Germany and had a couple of fights in Nigeria, winning all, as usual, via knockouts. I was reliably told that lack of promoters frustrated him and he went back.

I was a bit confident that Hogan Jimoh (a.k.a. Kwara State Atomic Bomb) would claim his title snatched away by Tinago because I believed, like many others did, that Jimoh either did not prepare well for the first fight or he underrated the Zimbabwean. I hate braggarts. But when Jimoh told the nation that Langton would not fly back to his homeland with the title, I thought that after exactly three months, the human nuclear energy had done his homework thoroughly. But what Jimoh gained in three months was just a one round improvement over his December 7 standard. Last Sunday, he was knocked out in round seven. Poor Jimoh, he had better keep to his pledge to hang his gloves now that he has lost again.

As for Obisia Nwakpa, he has done us proud. But the road to the throne is still rugged. By the account of his duel with Juan, he has to work extra hard on stamina building. The World Super Lightweight title holder Saoul Mamby insisted that Obisia fought Juan who was No. 2 contender as a kind of appetizer. Mamby knows a lot about Juan but a little about Obisia. But the Sunday fight will afford the champion an opportunity to assess the title aspirant. And so Obisia must work hard to go through the stipulated rounds or more. For, if the Sunday fight had gone beyond 12 rounds, the whole story would have been sour to tell.

I wish him the best of luck in July when he will square up with Mamby.

(Culled from Saturday Commentary, first published on March 14, 1981).