- …says he has restored glamour to heavyweight class
Boxing legend, Evander ‘Real Deal’ Holyfield, is excited about the successful story of the Nigerian-born British boxer, Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, and has predicted that the pugilist will dominate the heavyweight class for a long time.
Joshua recently unified the world heavyweight division, after knocking out Ukrainian boxer, Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round, having held the IBF title since 2016, and the WBA (Super) and IBO titles since April 2017. He previously held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2015 to 2016.
As an amateur, he represented Britain at the 2012 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division; he also represented England at the 2011 World Championships, winning silver.
As of May 2017, Joshua was ranked as the world’s best heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and BoxRec, and second best by The Ring magazine. He also boasts a 100 per cent knockout-to-win ratio. Joshua is the second British boxer, after James.
DeGale, to win both a gold medal at the Olympics and a world title by a major professional sanctioning body, as well as being the first British heavyweight to do so. He is also the second boxer, after Joe Frazier, to win a world heavyweight title whilst still reigning as Olympic champion at the top weight.
Speaking with our correspondent when he visited Nigeria recently, Holyfield described Joshua as a ‘very young champion’ that has great fighting abilities and is courageously ruthless with no respect for any boxer of his class.
“I have been following his career for a long time. I think he will go far in the heavyweight division and make great impact in his generation. He is a great fighter and well determined boxer. He will always win if he is still fighting. Gradually, he is returning boxing glamour to the heavyweight class. He should be inspired to do more. And if he has a root in Nigeria, he should try and bring one of his fights to Lagos,” Holyfield said.
Holyfield said he was excited that Joshua was given sufficient opportunities to grow and become boxing world champion, saying that if he had not been encouraged and given when he was younger, he would not have been the world champion at 28.
Holyfield, who defeated Mike Tyson twice in the 90s, the second fight being famous for the ear-biting incident, donated $2m worth of medical supplies and equipment to the Lagos State Government and various charities across Nigeria.
After subduing Klitschko, boxing pundits advised him to go for other outstanding heavyweight titles that would make him the undisputed boxing king of the world.
With the new unified World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation, and International Boxing Organisation heavyweight belts already in his kitty, the boxer with Nigerian blood will have to fight the champions of World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organisation heavyweight titles to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
But national boxing coach in Nigeria, Jeremiah Okorodudu, urged Joshua to drop the idea of fighting for more titles.
“Joshua should try and manage his career by dropping one title out of the three he is holding now. With that, he will stay long enough on each title and reign supreme. He is not a super human. So, I will not advise him to fight for more titles. The three titles are big burden to him because he will always prepare for his challengers. Now, Klitschko will be warming up for a return bout and it will not be easy for him to beat the Ukrainian outside England. Joshua won the last bout at the Wembley because he got the support of the home fans and he was adequately prepared to win the bout,” he said.
Okorodudu stressed that Joshua still has age on his side to move to the next level of his career. “It is easier to rise to the top in boxing. The raw strength, tough determination and regular fights always make a promising boxer better in future. Joshua started at the right time and rose to become the best in the category. He deserves all the honour and the attention he is getting now,” he said.
He, however, expressed disappointment that Nigeria has yet to learn from Joshua’s story in boxing. According to him, gone were the days when Delta State alone used to produce great boxers for the Olympic Games.
“The records are there for anyone that wants to verify. We had William Azanor, (56kg) in 1980 Moscow Olympics, Christopher Ossair, (60kg) two-time Olympian, 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles, in which I also featured, Joe Orewa (52kg) and Peter Konyegwachi also represented the nation at the 1984 Olympics, while Gabriel Onoko, (52kg) was in Barcelona Olympics.
“The most recent boxer is Efe Ajagba (+91kg) category, who was at the 2016 Rio Olympics. With all these stars, Delta should have a standard gymnasium,’’ he said. The Brisbane Commonwealth bronze medallist was optimistic that the state would produce more boxers that would make the country proud at national and international scenes, if provided with a modern gymnasium.
“Such gymnasium must be equipped with modern facilities such as a boxing ring, boxing bags, assorted guards and coaching/ training pad to enhance their training,” he said.
