The much talked about Oba Adeyemi United Boxing Championship billed for the Durban Stadium, Oyo town, Oyo State next month will help unearth budding talents.
This was the submission of the sole financier of the event, Mojeed Okedara, a former National and UBC champion.
The tournament, which is part of arrangements to mark the 78th birthday celebration of the Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr) Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III promises to be competitive according to Okedara.
To Okedara, the primary objective of the event is to celebrate the reverred monarch, who was a professional pugilist and also to help discover budding boxing talents, who can help put Oyo State on the international boxing map again.
Okedara who made this disclosure in an exclusive interview with Tribunesport last Sunday, said he was convinced that the tournament is capable of turning the fortunes of amateur boxers for good in the near future.
The boxing competition is meant for amateur boxers drawn from the Southwestern states of the country and those from Edo and Delta states.
On what the future holds for eventual winners, Okedara said: “The best boxers in the 11 weight categories will be given medals and cash rewards, we are also looking at the possibility of having them further their boxing careers in the United States of America, I run an agency in the US and I can assure them of the best of exposure.”
Okedara stated further that the Alaafin’s love for boxing spurred into investing close to N7million on the project, which he hopes would become an annual event.
Also speaking, the son of the monarch who represented the Alaafin at the media parley to herald the competition, Prince Akeem Adeyemi, a member of the House of Representatives having expressed appreciation to the sponsor promised to support the boxing competition personally and also ensure that boxing in the state gets the desired promotion with sole aim of discovering more talents and bring the game back to the fore front where it rightly belong.
“Having expressed appreciation to Mojeed the sponsor of this boxing competition, I want to assure our people here that, I will personally support the event as I have always been doing for football and table tennis completions being sponsored annually by me, and I will ensure that boxing regain its past glory in the state,” he said.
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