National welterweight champion, Michael Ikechukwu (Odogwu), has come out with a startling verdict that the boxing scene in Tanzania is better than that of Nigeria, Sports247 reports.
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‘Odogwu’ recalled what he referred to as a very wonderful experience he had when he went for a fight in Tanzania, and declared quite emphatically that it was much better than anything he has ever seen in Nigeria’s boxing sector.
He disclosed this while speaking on Athlete’s Corner segment of Sports247’s television programme, Inside Naija Sports, during which he also pointed out that the payment for boxers in Tanzania is far better than what applies in Nigeria.
The exuberant, jovial and highly ambitious boxer disclosed further during the programme, which comes up every weekend on YouTube and NTA News24, that he is yet to get similar payment in Nigeria despite the bold efforts of his manager.
Odogwu revealed further that payments given boxers in Nigeria are not commensurate with the efforts they put up in the roped square, hence his decision to reject some bouts that his manager might have arranged for him.
“I have a good manager who always talks on my behalf to a promoter. After the promoter gives his terms, my manager will talk to me.
“It’s not all fights that I accept, because boxing is something like between life and death. Most of the time, poor payment will make me reject a fight.
“I may decide not to accept N200,000 to put my life in danger. It’s like signing a death contract to entertain people. However, for every payment a boxer gets, the manager will collect a commission.
“Your fans will also expect you to give them something, and you will have to settle your family at home. You keep handing out a lot of money, despite as small as the pay is.”
He, however, admitted that payments he gets for each encounter he accepts have increased to an extent for him personally, because he has been in boxing dince 2021, and he is now a national champion, but stressed that all of it does not match what he got for one fight in Tanzania.
He added, “For my first fight as a professional, I got as low as N30,000 five years ago, but what I spent to entertain my fans was more than 50k. As I started growing, I began to get up to N100,000 and other amounts in that range.
“However, with my level in boxing and as the national champion, for any fight that comes now, I won’t accept anything less than $5,000 tp $10,000 before I enter the ring.
“My payment now must be in millions, and that’s what I got when I went to Tanzania; which was like paradise when compared to what we see in Nigeria.”
Odogwu then provided details of his trip to Tanzania, which he said was a wonderful experience for him, but it was also riddled with a lot of fishy, unusual, mysterious and scary antics perpetrated by the organisers in order to favour their boxers.
He expatiated amidst laughter and recourse to pidgin English, “It was the first time that I entered a plane, and they made great arrangements to host us, but they also had a hidden game plan.
“There were many boxers from five other countries, including Ghana and Lebanon. They camped us in flats, instead of hotels, and I loved the welfare they gave us.
“The rooms were full of air condition, they gave us a lot of food with plenty meat and they allowed us to serve ourselves. They took care of us very well.
“The only problem was that they took better care of their own boxers and they planned everything for them to win. Later on, we suspected that they drugged us, because we all started feeling funny.
“I was there with a Nigerian cruiserweight, but he could last only one round. I was meant to go ten rounds, but I lasted only six, and I started seeing 18 opponents at once. My coach had even collapsed before the fight and entered the ring without anyone in my corner.
“They brought a thick light heavyweight to fight me, and I could not stand up to him at all. However, apart from how they planned for their own boxers to win, the promotion was fantastic, and we are still friends up until today.”
Odogwu concluded with suggestions on how Nigeria’s boxing scene can gain a better standard and provide improved pay for boxers, as he took a swipe at the antics of bookmakers, whom he referred to as a cabal that determines what each boxer should be paid per fight.
“Nigeria can become better for boxing if our promoters and officials help us remove all the ‘Baba Isale’ cabals that dictate the payments each boxer will get and they will still take their cuts.
“They make things difficult for us, considering that the pay is already small. That’s why many good boxers have quit, and they move to other things that give them better money.
“Many good boxers in Nigeria have stooped, but I won’t give up. I will continue boxing because I have big plans. I still qant to be acworld champion.
“I have great ambitions for boxing and I hope to get a good promoter who can take me to fight abroad. I really want to whip some oyibo,” Odogwu concluded emphatically.
