Abolaji Rasheed on July 30 ended the 15 years reign of Sunny Iyere 'King Hammer' to become the new national middleweight boxing champion in Nigeria.
Afonja Warrior as he is fondly called secured unanimous decision to send 'King Hammer' out the hall empty-handed.
The title fight was the main bout of the GOtv Boxing Night 8 staged at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos, in honour of the late boxing legend, Muhammad Ali.
All the judges in their scorecards rated the Kwara State-born fighter ahead of his opponent, who exhibited dexterity in a bid to retain his title in the face of waning stamina as he threw everything into the fight.
'Afonja Warrior' who had in March this year stopped Ghanaian Adjei Sowah to win the West
African middleweight belt, after stopping the visitor in the third of their 12-round contest, in what served as his last bout prior to the July 30 showdown with King Hammer, whose last fight was in 2011.
Speaking after the bout, Afonja Warrior said beating King Hammer, did not come on a platter of gold after all.
"He was bigger than me and that made the fight difficult for me but I give God the glory for the victory. I was not disturbed by the cut he game me though through headbutt, because it was not the first time. I thank my fans for their tremendous support at all times. In fact, I had been wanting to face Hammer a long time ago but he was not willing to fight and I became happy when he agreed this challenge.
"This is just the beginning, I have to work extra hard to remain Nigeria's number one middleweight boxer and hope to defend these titles successfully for as long as God permits. In fact, the immediate target is the African title and I am working towards making this happen with God," said Afonja Warrior who defeated Jamiu 'Rotor' Animasahun on September 1, 2013 in his professional debut.
Meanwhile, King Hammer in a post-match interview said he gave a good account of himself
despite losing the title he won in 2001 in Benin Republic at the expense of Suleiman Alani.
"I showed the stuff I am made of as a champion. I had only five defence bouts since I
won this title and the reason I was not accepting bouts is that promoters were offering
us peanuts until GOtv came into boxing promotion.
"They always offer N20,000, N30,000, N40,000 and N50,000 and that was why I refused to box and when GOtv came in, they offered me N200,000 and I was happy and I agreed to fight. They supposed to give me two warm up bouts before this title fight which they did not do but there is no problem, I did my best tonight," he said.
Also on the night, reigning national light welterweight champion, Olaide Fijabi stopped Tombraye Christmas in just 58 seconds of the first round in place of Joseph 'Blacky Joe' Adeniji.
Waidi Usman 'Skoro' beat David Ekpeyong, by unanimous decision in a featherweight challenge and also went home with N1million prize as the best boxer of the night.
Stanley “Edo Boy” Eribo stopped Dele “Lagelu” Adeleke via a fifth round knockout in their national welterweight clash, as Rilwan ‘Baby Face' triumphed over Babatunde Shakiru 'No Shaking' Lateef in a national light welterweight challenge.
However, the super middleweight bout between Matthew “Wizeman” Obinna and Samuel “Lion Heart” Igbokwe was declared a no-contest.
Caption: Abolaji 'Afonja Warrior' Rasheed.
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