Nigerian boxing seemed to be on a good foot in the 1950s to 1970s with Hogan Bassey, Dick Tiger, etc, at least it was on par with Ghana as far as African boxing went... What happened????
Too much trouble in the country, I guess. Yeah, quite lacking a real GREAT, right ? Even though there was quite a few good talents since then, Sam Peter, Ike Ibeabuchi, I remember I used to think this guy Lattef Kayode could be something else... nah. DAvid Izon was a good fighter that only needed some polishment, could have been better. But Peter and Ibeabuchi were underachievers, what was the name of that nigerian that knocked out that insane russian puncher ? The russian was called Kudryashkov or something... that guy was fine. Daniel Attah was a good decent fighter.
i met Attah during a pre fight conference for his challenge of Acelino Freitas, a very decent, humble quiet, friendly guy. I had no idea I was going to get his autograph beforehand but decided why not so he signed my poster of the fight and even personalized it "to my friend.." Wasnt Ben Tackie Nigerian? His knockout of Roberto Garcia was something to be seen one of the greatest knockouts of all time! Nigerians and Ghanians are the other Mexicans in boxing in that you rarely ever see anyone from those countries get knocked out. Sam Peter was a world champion who was a hard hitting, solid boxer. i had hopes with him that he'd be the next larry holmes as far as reing longeviity and maybe of course a Hall of Famer..but it fizzled out before our eyes, I guess. About Nigeria...that country has had many problems, for real, like most African and Latin countries, plaged by past bad government but it seems like the country , without getting too much into politics, is on the right direction. I've read about it and of course Nollywood is flourishing, albeit the quality of their movies, ive seen some,...a bit iffy...Nigeria of course has petroleum and a large presence by Royal Dutch Shell, plus companies such as Arik Air (a Nigerian airline doing well economically after a few years? No way! Well, it is actually!) Ibom Air which is another airline, Chicken Republic which is a growing restaurant chain...I think Nigeria and Ghana are on their way to becoming the next South Africa as far as countries that are developing steadily in the region. Of course this affects boxing two ways: One is boxers who are obviously in the sport can now receive better equipment and training facilities and probably even accommodations during domestic tournaments so they will be trained better and feeling better. Two is most people who arent boxers or have a profession will probably not want to be boxers because they have a decent living so why go unto such a hard sport???
I imagine that, like most big countries, the culture varies from place to place in a huge country like Nigeria. Maybe there are the right places in Nigeria where boxing is bigger. They always produced good footballers (soccer) though so, I guess the best athletes would be there firstly anywhere in there. My man Osimeh is nigerian.
Really interesting post friend. Tackie was Ghanaian. He fought Kostya Tszyu for all the straps after Tszyu had KO’d Zab Judah. Gave a very good account of himself too but was outboxed to a decision loss. I loved Sam Peter. He was a guy I followed pretty closely.
i remember that fight and Tszyu fought the perfect fight..he boxed from outside..its too bad Tackie didnt become world champion. One Nigerian who is among the top 50 of all time is Dick Tiger. I actually, well his name was Richard ihetu, and I look at his record and see Super Human Power, Animal this, beast that and I think wow those Nigerians in that time, I mean look at the man himself, Dick Tiger...the WWE had nothing in Nigerian boxers as far as ring names! I definitely include Dick Tiger along with Azumah Nelson and Brian Mitchell in the greatest African boxer argument. To me , its between those three and maybe ike Quartey too.
