Afonja Warrior set for Commonwealth title fight in UK

Abolaji, Afonja Warriror with the national middleweight

REIGNING national and West African middleweight boxing champion, Nigeria’s Abolaji Rasheed, a.k.a. Afonja Warrior, will on March 18 fight for the vacant Commonwealth ((British Empire) middleweight title against Sam Sheedy of Great Britain.

The 12-round bout is scheduled to hold at the Ponds Forge Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK. Also, another Nigerian, Isaac ‘Grenade’ Ekpo will seek honour as he faces unbeaten World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight title holder, Tyron Zeuge, in his country, Germany.

The showdown is billed to hold at the MBS Arena, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany on March 25.

Afonja Warrior, who made his professional debut in 2013 boasts eight wins (4KOs) two losses and one draw from 11 fights, while Sheedy, a.k.a. Speedy, has 17 wins and two losses.

According to the Secretary General of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), Mr Remi Aboderin, the rise in the profile of Nigerian boxers in recent times has been through the efforts of the body as well as the platform provided by GOtv.

He disclosed that Afonja Warrior was selected by Dennis Hobson Promotions, a boxing promoter registered with the Commonwealth Boxing Council adding that “the title is vacant and whoever wins becomes the new Commonwealth middleweight champion.”

“I am happy that the efforts of the executives and board members of NBB of C with the support from GOtv, the management of Flykite Productions, led by Mr Jenkins Alumona and Dr Rafiu Ladipo, among others to reposition professional boxing in Nigeria are yielding fruits and I believe the sky is the limit. The GOtv Boxing Night in Nigeria has changed the face of professional boxing in Nigeria and the boxers have been given a new lease of life,’’ Aboderin told Tribunesport.

“I hope they [Afonja Warrior and Ekpo] would go all out and come back victorious, as this act would open doors for Nigerian boxing and other professional boxers to gain recognition internationally by having opportunities to fight for titles,” It will be recalled, that Afonja Warrior, dethroned Sunday ‘King Hammer’ Iyere last July at the National Stadium, Lagos, by unanimous decision to become Nigeria’s champion, barely four months after he defeated Ghana’s Daniel Adjei Sowah by TKO to claim the vacant West African Boxing Union middleweight title.