GOtv Boxing Night 9: Joe Boy wins N1.5m

IN FRONT of a capacity crowd at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos, on Sunday, Oto "Joe Boy" Joseph, the  national lightweight champion, was named the best boxer at GOtv Boxing Night 9 for the third time beating Ghana's Richard "Desert Warrior" Amefu via unanimous decision in an eight round international challenge contest.

The award was accompanied by a cash prize of N1.5million and the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy, named after the late wife of the chairman of MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya.

The 2012 National Sports Festival gold medalist for Lagos State and Commonwealth 2014 boxer speaking after the fight stated that he will not rest on his laurels and will continue to work hard until he meets his goals as a professional boxer.  

"I am happy to be voted as the best boxer for an unprecedented third time but it is not going to end there. I have dreamt of being an African and World champion since I was in the amateur ranks and I will continue to work harder until those goals are met," the Akwa Ibom native stated.

In the other international challenge duel of the night, Olaide "Fijaborn" Fijabi, national light welterweight champion, defeated Raphael "Iron King" Kwabena of Ghana via a split decision. The fight had a lot of fans talking as some felt that the Ghanaian was the better boxer and deserved to be named the winner while others felt Fijabi had done enough in the earlier rounds to win it.

GOtv Boxing Night also yielded a new national cruiserweight champion in Idowu "ID Cabasa" Okusote, who dethroned a bloodied Ekeng "Fighting Policeman" Henshaw who threw in the towel in the sixth round.

Similarly defeated was the colorful Jude "Great Jude" Iloh, the national light heavyweight champion, who was no match for Adewale "Masevex" Masebinu in their national challenge bout. The referee had to stop the fight in the fourth round as Iloh was being pummeled by the youthful Masebinu.

Prince "Lion Nwoye" had started the trend by knocking out Sikiru "Omo Iya Eleja" Shogbesan in the final round of their six-round national lightweight contest. Other winners on the night were Kabiru "KB Godson" Towolawi, who saw off Olajide 'Germani' Olatunji and Semiu "Jagaban" Olapade, who defeated debutant Ebubechukwu "Coded Man" Edeh.