Gold Coast 2018 Boxing Flop: Okorodudu Blasts NBF, Says Ayonote’ll Be Sad In His Grave

Nigeria secured two bronze medals courtesy of two female boxers, Yetunde Odunuga and Millicent Agboegbulem at the Australia games.

Ayonote died during a national assignment in China in November 1992. But the Olympian who did a post mortem on Nigeria’s outing in Gold Coast, Australia recalled with nostalgia the rapturous days of Ayonote’s reign as the sport’s supremo.

Olympian and Commonwealth Games hero, Jerry Okorodudu almost succumbed to his emotion while reacting to Nigeria’s floppy outing in Australia in a chat with PM EXPRESS in Lagos.

“It’s a disgrace that Nigeria attended the Commonwealth Games and came back with two bronze medals in boxing.

“With our rich history in amateur boxing and the level Brai Ayonote took it to, Nigeria should declare a day of mourning for the sport”.

Okorodudu who also coached the national team blamed the administrators for reducing Nigerian boxing “to a laughing stock”.

The Los Angeles 1984 Olympian described the leadership of Nigeria Boxing Federation “as inept” stressing that “it should be held responsible for the Commonwealth Games’ disaster.”

According to him “I cannot blame the boxers for the outing, the buck must stop on the table of the federation under the leadership of rtd Brig. Gen. Joseph Ayeni.

Okorodudu explained that though former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Kenneth Minimah was the president of the federation, “he relinquished the position to Ayeni immediately he won the election last June”.

“Our failure in Australia is the summary of Ayeni’s ability as an administrator and the lack of capacity on the part of the coach, Tony Konyegwachie.

In fact, Ayeni has been the problem with our boxing for a very long time”.

Okorodudu recalled “During the tenure of Mr. Lucky Igbinedion as president of the federation, Ayeni was also given the responsibility of running the federation since Igbinedion was then governor of Edo state.

In spite of Igbinedion’s nice intentions, Ayeni ensured that he failed.”

Okorodudu who was visibly angry during the interaction, said he was certain “Ayonote would be agonising in his resting place due to the turn of events in the sport that he lived and died for”.

“Ayonote will be sad wherever he is with what is happening to Nigerian boxing. Ayonote gave his all to boxing and within four years as president of the federation,he took Nigerian boxing to the big league.

During the Seoul Olympics in 1988 which was Ayonote’s first assignment as boxing chief, Nigeria flopped.

“But the man came back, learnt from the Seoul experience and launched a robust programme to revive the sport which gave Nigeria her first Olympic Games medal in Tokyo 1964 through Nojeem Maiyegun who won bronze.

Before the Olympics in 1992, Nigeria had joined boxing’s big league with her boxers dominating continental and world championships.

And the high point of his tenure was the Barcelona 1992 Olympics when Nigeria got two silver medals to emerge the 7th best boxing nation in the world”.

Ayonote died three months after the Barcelona Olympics in China when he led a team to a championship.

Okorodudu lamented that Ayonote’s death was “a severe blow to Nigerian boxing and is the reason for the present morass in the sport”.

“If Ayonote had been alive today, Nigeria would have been the world’s leading boxing nation. With his programme and passion, he was on course to take Nigerian boxing to the very top. He had the capacity which the present leadership clearly lacks. But death stopped him.”