The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba (Dr) Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, who turns 80 this year, October 15 to be precise, in this interview with Tribunesport’s OLAWALE OLANIYAN, talks about his passion for boxing ahead of other sports. Excerpts:
My love for boxing:
I grew up at Obalende, Lagos – a neighbourhood that comprised all tribes – Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Efik. In fact, you can see any tribe you can think of there. Then, I was lucky, we had opportunities to engage in various sporting activities in the neighbourhood.
Lagos, right from time, is a city known for sports. You will see football pitches and boxing gyms in places like Obalende, Lafiaji, Oke Popo, and so on. There were sporting clubs all over the city where youths could engage in one sporting event or the other and from there, attitude used to be developed.
I became prominent through boxing, but I was also into long distance races which at that time was known as cross country. At that time, we used to compete in 10 miles, eight miles, which is like what we know as marathon today. We were motivated then. We had trainers who would put you through the rudiments of the game and that was how I came into boxing. I won several trophies in long distances and I also played football during my primary and secondary school days. In fact, because of my exploits in football, I was nicknamed local Stanley Matthews. Then as a student of Tinubu Methodist School, we had a number of football competitions for secondary schools in Lagos Island, very competitive at that time. It was compulsory then that you must engage in one sporting activity or the other, and it really helped a lot because it helped in developing one’s physical and mental wellbeing.
Where I stayed in Lagos, unless you were very physically fit, you would become the whipping boy among your mates in the neighbourhood. I took to boxing primarily as a means of developing character. I wanted to be tough, I wanted to be like any sound youth of my age and this could only be achieved through sporting activities aside from academics.
You must do something which your ability could take and we had good trainers then. I opted for boxing and athletics as I said earlier, but I became prominent through boxing. I belonged to Mark Fadipe Boxing Club, Lafiaji. We had Fadipe, and so many outstanding boxers at that time. We were trained by Fadipe. I had over 50 bouts with only two losses. One to Teronike Cole and the other to Obilaso on points. The loss to Obilaso was controversial but once the referee said you have lost, you have to take it in the spirit of sportsmanship.
80th birthday boxing tournament:
Let me first thank the organisers, I-Yess Sports for initiating this boxing championship to mark my 80th birthday.
I must say that Nigeria’s rise in sports started way back in 1950 during the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, where we won a silver medal through Joshua Majekodunmi in high jump. At the 1954 Games held in Canada, we also had superb track and field athletes like Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Abdulkarim Amu, Edward Ajado, Peter Ebiri, Muslim Arogundade, Karim Ayinla, Babalola Olowu, and Nigeria came back with seven medals – one gold, three silver and three bronze medals.
At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Nigeria’s first medal, a bronze, was won by Nojeem Maiyegun [Omo Alhaja], while he also won a bronze medal at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.
At that time, sports in this country was well-funded and managed. What we have today is that boxing has gone down because there is no money to develop the game. The emphasis now is more on football because of the money that footballers earn globally. If you are into boxing or football and you get to the age of 30, that is the peak because the law of diminishing returns would set in. So footballers make money for themselves because they take it as a profession. At that time, we did boxing at amateur level, just to represent our country, our club and our area in competitions. Then, they would give us singlet and pants as prizes and we would take it with sense of fulfilment.
The truth of the matter is that today, not many people want to take to boxing anymore because of the high risk involved. The more a boxer takes punches during fights, especially in the head, the more these punches have negative effect on his mental ability. It also impairs a boxer’s vision depending on the telling punches he receives.
Though, the risk in football is also there, once you sustain a severe injury, it could lead to the end of that player’s career.
Also, it costs a lot of money to organise a boxing championship. You have to think of the media publicity, welfare of the boxers and ring officials involved as well as logistics. You also need the medical personnel at the ringside and the technical adviser to check the boxers’ wellbeing before any bout. That is why I must thank I-Yess Sports for planning this birthday boxing championship.
I want to implore youths to take to boxing and learn the rudiments of the sport. There is no sport without a risk, once there is determination to succeed and you go through the right channel, the dream of becoming a successful boxer would be achieved. I also urge boxers to always listen to their trainers. You hardly see what is happening in the ring, although you are facing your opponent, but those trainers are experts, they know what you need most and that is why they are your trainers. They see what you cannot see in the ring and it is easier for the trainer to quickly discover the weak areas of any opponent which his own boxer would work on to win the bout. No handler would like to see his boxer receive five to six punches without any punch in return, it has effect on the physical strength. When a boxer has received a lot of punches during a bout, his punching power would reduce and that exposes him to his opponent to do the damage at any slightest opportunity.
My football nickname:
Stanley Matthews was England player, he played football till almost the age of 50. He was a superb dribbler who played on the outside right. So, because of my qualities as a player at that time, I was given that nickname. It was like referring to the skills of the likes of Segun Odegbami, Albert Onyeawuna, Haruna Ilerika. I was a very good dribbler and that was why I was nicknamed local Stanley Matthews.
Birthday exhibition bout:
I don’t know the plan of the organisers yet, if they want me to be involved in an exhibition bout during the final of the competition, definitely, they will inform me. Once a boxer, always a boxer. Though for a long time now, I have not been engaged in near-competitive boxing but today, I went on a road walk to keep fit. I moved round and covered about three to four kilometres from the palace. Occasionally, even in the palace, I always try to do everything to keep me fit.
You must be logged in to post a comment.