Bash Ali World Title Fight: LOC To Visit President Buhari

OLADAPO OLUWABUNMI OLANIKE

Members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of Bash Ali Guinness World Record Boxing Championship are making necessary arrangement to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Villa in Abuja.

The meeting, P.M. EXPRESS reliably gathered, becomes necessary in order to brief Mr. President and update him on the preparation for the staging of the world boxing fight in Nigeria now that the LOC has been officially inaugurated.

The LOC was inaugurated on 21 May, 2019 by the former Minister of Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung who named himself chairman of the 22-man LOC.  Others members include the Chief of Staff to the Mr President, Abba Kyari, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Chief Mike Ozekhome, Chief Kenny Martins, Barrister George Ogarmah, the Chairman House Committee on Sports, Chairman Channels Television, Group Managing Director of Daar Communications, Directors General of FRCN and NTA, Executive Secretary National Lottery Trust Fund and the CEOs of Bank of Industry (BOI), Transcorp Hilton, Globacom, Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank and others

Sources confided in P.M. EXPRESS Thursday evening in Abuja that the visit to Aso Rock Villa to meet with Buhari would come up any moment. “You know that the inauguration of the LOC by Solomon Dalung officially kick-started Nigeria’s preparation for the Guinness World Record Fight and it is very important that we meet the Father of the Nation, President Muhammadu Buhari to fully brief him on what had happened because he was the one who committed the country to this fight when he gave the directive that all necessary enabling environment should be provided for a successful hosting of the fight.

“We have to brief him officially and let him know our plans to execute the jobs especially when the country has stepped up to the ‘Next Level’ of taking Nigeria to its greater height. This Bash Ali’s fight we are talking about will add a lot of values to this country economically, project the image of the country and also boost our tourism heritages. When we sat down to look into the revenue this fight will bring to the country, we are talking in excess of Two Billion Dollars. You can see that we must plan the staging of the fight very well. We still have other benefits coming to the country,” said the source.

The fight, which is to be held in Nigeria between now and October, is being sanctioned by two world boxing bodies, the International Boxing Union (IBU) and the World Boxing Federation (WBC). IThe Nigerian Bashiru Lawrence Ali (OON) popularly called Bash Ali is a current cruiserweight champion of WBF. The bout will be watched all over the world through the Pay-Per-View telecast.

Bash Ali, a former wrestler in the United States, is billed to go into the ring with a young American pugilist in his bid to break two straight records on the night of the fight. He will be the oldest man on earth to step into the ring in a world title fight. He is now 63. A win for Bash Ali will see him rewriting boxing history as the oldest man on earth to win a world title fight and write his name and that of Nigeria in the Guinness Book of World Records.

“You can see reasons all hands must be on deck to make sure that this epic event is held at all costs. Every Nigerian, including our Dear President, will be making history on that night which we can’t wait to see,” the source concluded.