Ekundayo delivers Ooni of Ife’s congratulatory letter to Anthony Joshua

By Akeem Lawal

(L-R) Ben Gray, Anthony Joshua and Larry Ekundayo

THE new IBF and WBA heavyweight champion of the world, Anthony Oluwafemi Joshua was touched and humbled to receive the Ooni of Ife, HRM, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II's official congratulations on his recent achievement at the 02 in London on Thursday night.

The 27-year-old Nigerian-born boxer knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round at Wembley last month to become the unified world heavyweight champion.

The Yoruba King was the first Nigerian leader to officially have his congratulatory letter hand-delivered and recognised by Anthony Joshua. Recall that the Ooni already blessed, endorse and supported other Nigerian boxers (Larry “The Natural” Ekundayo and Olusegun Ajose), a fact which did not go unnoticed by the Heavyweight King.

The letter which was facilitated by Nigerian Lawyer - Bob Olukoya Esq., was hand delivered to AJ by elite Nigerian fighter, Larry Ekundayo and Ben Gray, the owner of commercial agency, World Class Athletes, who specialises in helping Nigeria to deliver on its huge wealth of boxing talent.

Joshua with Ekundayo

After reading the content several times, AJ who was honoured to receive it, promised to frame the letter and put it on his wall at home.

Joshua and his team are already in early discussions with World Class Athletes to visit Nigeria on an official tour of the country, so there is every chance that the Heavyweight King will be meeting the King of the Yoruba people in the near future.

Anthony encouraged all Nigerians to get behind their boxers, especially Ekundayo, ahead of his forthcoming Commonwealth title bout and even recorded a special, personalised message for Larry, which will be released in the coming weeks.

(L-R) Bob Olukoya, Olusegun Ajose, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Larry Ekundayo, Ben Gray during the King's historic royal visit to the UK recently.

After delivering the letter Ben Gray said, “It was wonderful to be able to help promote Nigeria in this way, and Anthony and his team couldn’t have been more welcoming to us because they know how we have helped represent Nigerian boxing. Now that the Ooni of Ife and the Alaafin of Oyo have led the way I hope that Nigerians everywhere will recognise the huge asset that Anthony and other Nigerian boxers are to their country. This is particularly valuable to the country in helping create positive news stories about Nigeria on the international stage, and as a result, I hope we will see proper support of your incredible, world class talent”.

Ekundayo is however honoured to be the carrier of the message.

“I was hugely honoured to be asked by the Ooni of Ife to deliver his personal congratulation letter directly to Anthony Joshua last night. The Ooni has really got behind Nigerian boxers, as he is one of Nigeria's visionary leaders, lover of sport and youth development having seen the potential for Nigeria to deliver World Champions of our own”, the African Boxing Union Welterweight Champion  later posted on his Facebook page on Friday.