His heroics also earned him the N1.5m star prize and the Mojisola Ogunsanya trophy as the best boxer of the 10th Gotv Boxing Night promoted by Flykite Promotions.
Sowah had come in as a replacement for Tanzania's national champion, Meshack "Smart Boy"
Mwankemwa.
Interestingly, Eribo had clinched the best boxer of the night award on December 26, 2015 with the N1.5million star prize when he stopped Sunday "Capo" Olalekan in the ninth round of their 12-round contest to become the national welterweight champion.
On Monday night also in the sports city, ‘Edo Boy’ as Eribo is fondly called dominated the better part of the 12-round contest as his Ghanaian opponent resorted to occasional throw of punches in order not to make the bout a one-sided affair.
One of those punches took Eribo to the canvas in the early rounds but the Nigerian was able to beat the mandatory count and never fell to his opponent's kick-boxing style again while the fight lasted.
The Ghanaian exhibited spirit of sportsmanship after the fight as he took time to exchange pleasantries with the home boy even before the judges' scorecard was made public.
In one of the supporting bouts, reigning national lightweight champion, Otto Joseph floored his arch-rival, Fatai "Prince" Nurudeen for the third time.
The 2012 National Sports Festival gold medallist this time, silenced Prince Nurudeen, a former national champion with a knockout in the fourth round of their six-round national lightweight challenge.
When both boxers first clashed at GOtv Boxing Night 4 in 2015, Joe Boy stopped Prince Nurudeen in round five as the latter attributed the loss to an injury sustained on his right hand.
Also, Joe Boy after 12 rounds won by unanimous decision during the second meeting at GOtv Boxing Night 7 on May 1, 2015 to become the new national lightweight champion. Joe Boy also clinched home the best boxer of the night award which attracted N1million then.
However, on Monday night, the dream of Prince Nurudeen to floor Joe Boy at least before bidding for a title fight later in the New Year to reclaim his lost title ended in round four. He tried to reignite his old good days form in the ring but it failed to materialise.
The wizardry of lad who represented Nigeria at the 2014 Commonwealth Games came to the fore in round four as he delivered a straight punch which sent Prince Nurudeen to the canvas and finally back to his corner to remove his gloves perhaps for another day.
In another supporting bout, reigning national featherweight champion, Waidi "Skoro" Usman knocked out Dare "Fighting Machine" Oyewole in round four of their eight-round contest.
It was a rematch as well as Skoro had in 2014 defeated Oyewole to become the national champion.
In what turned out to be the shortest fight of the night Kabiru Towolawi almost turned pro debutant, Emmanuel "Man Mopol" Igwe to punching bag before the referee stopped the light heavyweight bout in round two.
Rilwan Oladosu "Real One" also triumphed over Prince "Lion" Nwoye by unanimous decision in a lightweight bout, while Rilwan Babatunde "Baby Face" also secured a unanimous decision victory over Sikiru Shogbesan in a light welterweight bout scheduled after the cancellation of the West African title defence by Nigeria's Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi against Ghanaian Raphael "Iron King" Kwabena.
Fijabi sustained an injury while preparing for the fight and he has since apologised to his numerous fans for his inability to show up on Boxing Day, just as he looks forward to meeting the Ghanaian challenger again who he beat at GOtv Boxing Night 9 to win the sub-regional title on February 2017.
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Caption for Photo 1 above: Stanley Eribo, the new African boxing welterweight champion.
Caption for Photo 2: Otto Joseph (right) lands a punch in the face of Fatai 'Prince' Nurudeen during their lightweight contest earlier in the year before the Boxing Day's showdown.
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