Akran of Badagry To Celebrate Bob Alagoro With 60th Birthday Boxing Tourney

Bob Alagoro, former West African Super middleweight champion (right) with the Akran of Badagry, De Aholu Menu-Toyi I in his palace in Badagry recently.

The Akran of Badagry, De Aholu Menu-Toyi I,  is making arrangement to honour one of the sons of the soil, Prince Bob Keffi Alagoro who has done Nigeria proud in his chosen boxing career.

Bob Alagoro, the undefeated superwelter weight West African boxing champion, will clock 60th on Friday, 27 April and on the following day Saturday, 28 April, the Akran of Badagry,  in conjunction with Badagry West Local Government,  will host a boxing tournament in honour of Alagoro, who the Palace of Akran said has been a worthy son of the ancient city.

It was reliably gathered that the Akran of Badagry was so glad when Bob Alagoro paid him a visit at the weekend, where the plan for the boxing competition was made known to the boxer,  who quit active boxing on 29th December, 1997 as an undefeated champion.

The tournament will feature both the amateur and professional cadres with a major exhibition bout that will involved Bob Alagoro and the World Boxing Federation (WBF) champion, Bashiru Lawrence Ali a.k.a Bash Ali.

The one day event, which had seen a committee being setup, will be staged at the ASCON Administrative Staff College, Topo, Badagry.

“I was so happy when I met the Akran of Badagry, who equally was so excited that I’m from Badagry. It’s a honour for me to be celebrated with a boxing tournament to mark my birthday. I will forever be grateful to the Kabiyesi, ” said Alagoro, who had 101 fights, 72 as an amateur and 29 as a professional. In all,  he won 90 fights (12 of which were on knockouts) drew 2 and lost 8 fights.

” Though Nigeria dumped me, but I’m so happy today that Badagry found me worthy to be celebrated. The 28 April event has received the royal blessing from Akran of Badagry, Baale of Topo and the chiefs of Badagry. Even one of the chiefs has volunteered to perform an exhibition cultural dance to entertain guests on that day, ” he said.

A three in one event is already planned for that  28 April. While Bob Alagoro, who in 1980 became the Lagos State amateur boxing champion in the light Middleweight cadre, will celebrate his birthday, boxing tournament will be held on the day, while a sports academy will also be launched to cater for numerous sports talent within Badagry and its environs.

Alagoro started his boxing career as an amateur at the age of 16, before joining the defunct Post and Telecommunications Department (P&T)  in 1980, first  as a gateway and later as a craftsman in the engineering department and technical service division.

He won a silver medal in boxing at the first P&T National Sports Festival in Benin City, the then Bendel State. He won gold medal in boxing in the Kaduna 1981 P&T Sports Festival. He was decorated the best boxer of the year in P&T event in 1982.

Alagoro later turned professional in 1984, and went on to win the National Super Welterweight Championship in 1986 after winning 11 undefeated fights, but lost same later that year. He reclaimed the title in 1987 when he defeated Lukeman Saheed in round 9 of 12 rounds title fight.

The Prince of Topo became the first boxer in sub saharan Africa to fight and donate all his purse to the motherless home headquarters in Lagos, the S. O. So Village, Isolo, Lagos in 1993.

In 1994, he became the West African Super Welterweight champion by beating the former champion, Bensa Apotifi of Burkina Faso, while in 1997, he defended the title against Bob Rasheed of Ghana who he beat in round 2.  He later retired in  December of that year.