How Nigerian boxing officials rejected Anthony Joshua

Jeremiah Okorodudu, a former boxing champion, has revealed how boxing rave of the moment, Anthony Joshua, was rejected by Nigerian boxing officials nine years ago.

Joshua caught global attention and became a darling of boxing fans Saturday night after he humiliated Wladimir Klitschko, at the Wembley Stadium in England. Speaking with UK Sun, Okorodudu recalled that nine years back, Joshua’s efforts to represent Nigeria at the 2008 Olympic Games were futile as the Nigerian boxing officials turned him down.
He said,
-
-
- “Joshua was in Nigeria once to connect with his roots and I think that was in 2007. He wanted a chance to compete for trials ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics qualifiers, but he was denied and not given a chance.

Disappointed, he went back to England to represent Great Britain. He went on to win a gold that could have been a first for Nigeria at the Olympics.

If only they had allowed him to compete for Nigeria, that gold would have been a Nigerian gold and not Great Britain’s.” Another Nigeria coach at the time, Adegboyega Adeniji-Adele also confirmed the fact that Joshua was at the Nigerian camp.
-
-
- “Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua is his name and his family come from Ogun state in Nigeria,” he said. “When he visited, his intention was to represent Nigeria at the Olympics but he was denied in the trials. He had no other option than to go to Britain.

It’s Nigeria’s loss, Britain’s gain. Personally, I feel sad that they let him go and those people should be made to explain why it was impossible to give him a chance.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Lawyer -Tunde Okewale awarded MBE in 2016 Queen's Honours List'

Image
“From GQ Cool List to Queen's Honours List”. The award was made in recognition of his "services to the community and disadvantaged young people". Tunde Okewale, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers and founder of Urban Lawyers, is a popular figure on social media and made GQ’s 2014 “cool” list. Background and achievements Tunde is 32 years of age and a Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers. He was raised on a council estate in Hackney, East London. He is the eldest of four children and was the first person in my family to attend university and obtain a degree. During his studies, Tunde undertook numerous simultaneous part-time jobs in the food and retail industry, to enable him to contribute towards his household. Consequently, his academic studies suffered, and he obtained a 2.2 in his undergraduate degree. Career advisors and professionals told him that he would never make it. Despite this setback, Tunde ploughed on. He involved himself in community work a...
Read more

PDP Apologise to Jonathan, Nigerians for your lies,' Party tells APC

Image
It also accused the Muhammadu Buhari administration of not fighting corruption but "sharing dollars in Central Bank of Nigeria and doing illegal forex deals". The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demands apologies from the All Progressive Congress (APC) to former President  Goodluck Jonathan  for the lies the party ruling party told against him. The party also asked the APC to apologise to Nigerians for the propaganda it dished out during the the 2015 election campaign. The PDP said this on Saturday, June 18, in a series of tweets via its handle @PdpNigeria. It also accused the  Muhammadu Buhari  administration of not fighting corruption but "sharing dollars in Central Bank of Nigeria and doing illegal forex deals". The opposition party said what the present government successfully did in one year was shut down the economy, ruined businesses, drove away investors and gave excuses. It also condemned Buhari's silence on the killing of 18 wome...
Read more