No Voodoo In Boxing – OkeIbadan

ADEBOBOLA ALAWODE

Retired undefeated professional boxing champion, Adewale Ibrahim aka Oke Ibadan has dismissed insinuations in some quarters that there is something like voodoo when it comes to the pugilist sport.

The retired undefeated Bantamweight champion said he didn’t believe in the efficacy of voodoo in boxing because being a contact sport there is no way an opponent could be hypnotized.

Ibrahim, a former national boxing champion stated that it is only hard work that can make any professional boxer gets to his or her pinnacle of their boxing career. The Oyo State-born former African boxing champion argued that only lazy boxers rely on African science to be able to defeat their opponents. He stressed that it is a wrong notion for any professional boxer to shun training and hard and bank on an herbalist to come out triumph when he or she steps into the ring.

While reacting to an argument over the efficacy of juju when it comes to professional boxing contest, the former Commonwealth Bantamweight waved such comments as uncalled for because he had once defeated an opponent, who he was informed before the fight that he had something strapped to his waist.

Recounting his memories before the said fight, Ibrahim said: “I can’t remember the year vividly but, I know it was at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos State, you won’t believe it but it is the truth, before the fight started the referee called my attention to something tied around the waist of my opponent, he actually told me that I should be wary of what he suspected to be a charm, and I told him pointblank that I was going to defeat him, before the end of round one I defeated him and the referee was amazed. So I can conveniently say that there is nothing like juju in boxing.”       

On what he has been doing since he retired from the pugilist sport, he said he has been unearthing budding boxing talents from the grassroots and ensuring that they become world champions in future.

He admitted that the task is challenging but he is upbeat that with the needed support he would discover more champions just like reigning world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua of Nigerian origin.

He also spoke on his fast approaching boxing championship, which he uses as a breeding ground for budding talents; he said plans are in top gear to make the event billed for 28 March, 2021 in Lagos State a success.

Concluding he advised aspiring boxers to shun reliance on voodoo, use of illicit use of drugs and other social vices.