He may not be Don King or Bob Arum yet, Jenkins Alumona, is surely toeing the path of great promoters of the sweet science in Nigeria already. For straight eight years, the journalist turned public relations entrepreneur, has built the GOtv Boxing Night into the biggest boxing show in the country. The FlyKite Sports Boss here shares his journey into boxing promotions with reporters at the weekend. Excerpts…
You came to the limelight as a sports journalist and magazine editor, but you are taking a road less travelled by people in the field as a boxing promoter. What pushed you in that direction
You’re very correct to say I was thrusted into public attention via journalism, which saw me work with The GuardianandThe NEWSGroup in the 1990s. I studied Mass Communication and I thought journalism was a natural habitat. A journalist was what I always wanted to be and I am glad I became one, even rising to the position of an editor of The NEWS, one of the media weapons against military dictatorship in the country. As an extension, I also had a spell co-hosting Master Sports along with illustrious names like Paul Bassey and Chris Eseka. Master Sports, you will recall, was the biggest sports show on television in those days. That was part of the journalistic platform that launched my career. You may not be exactly right to say I took a road less travelled. In terms of boxing, perhaps it is a road less travelled. But I have seen sports journalists go into the promotion of other sports.
With boxing, it is a life-long affair. I’ve always loved the sport and when I was at The Guardian, I was assigned to cover boxing. I was encouraged by the great Trigo Egbegi. That was when we had a thriving boxing scene. I quit journalism in 1998, went into brand management with The Quadrant Company, Econet Wireless Nigeria, Globacom and my own outfit in 2004. In those organisations, I worked on the sports properties of brands and I learnt a thing or two about promoting sports. My affection for boxing never waned and over the years, I felt some distress at how wretched the sport had become. Don’t forget that boxing gave the country its first sporting heroes and I knew the scale of public affection for the sport before its slide. I told myself that if I had the chance, I’d take on the challenge to fix the sport. And as luck would have it, one of my mentors and business icons, Chief Adewunmi Ogunsanya, also shares the passion and desire. He then drove the process that started GOtv Boxing Night in 2014 with Flykite Sports and the backing of our sponsors.
Boxing promotions is a field from which the most dogged ran away. What assured you that you would make the success you’ve made of it so much so that you’re touted as the country’s biggest boxing promoter?
I don’t know about being the country’s biggest boxing promoter and I can tell you that I am yet to be successful. This is no attempt at modesty, but one at situating things appropriately. I will first start by commending those who got into the game before I did. They sweated blood to put those shows together and got precious little from them. Passion was what drove them. It is the same thing driving me. Success will be when we produce, through GOtv Boxing Night, world champions discovered and nurtured in Nigeria. We are light years away from that goal as yet.
That said, we are taking some encouragement in our modest successes, the kind words of boxing stakeholders, the delight of the fans and very importantly, the unwavering support of the sponsors. We are approaching the 26th edition. That’s something. Boxers no longer have to wait for years in between fights, as they fight more regularly. They earn far better than they ever did before 2014, got insured before stepping into the ring and have caught the eyes of promoters around the world, which has resulted in many of them fighting abroad. We have brought boxers from Argentina, the US, Egypt, Eastern and Western Africa, putting Nigeria back on the global boxing map. All of this of course would not have been possible without our Chairman Chief Ogunsanya SAN, the Odofin of Ikorodu who is always asking that the boxers be treated better.
I consider your rejection of the biggest promoter tag indicative, somewhat of self-deprecation. You host the biggest boxing shows and have done so for eight straight years. Why would you say you’re not?
(Smiles) I still reject the tag because I’m not sure it is merited, based on the objective-yet to be realised-we set at the beginning of the journey. What I think is certain is that we brought in a level of organisation and sponsorship support never seen before into the sport. The shows are Las Vegas-style, are aired live continent-wide on television via SuperSport and are watched by many, I was in a taxi in Lilongwe, capital of Malawi in 2016 when we went for the African Boxing Union (ABU) convention. The taxi driver asked where we were from and we said Nigeria. He asked what we were doing in town and we told him it was for the boxing convention. He immediately recalled GOtv Boxing Night and asked if we knew a boxer with facial marks that won N1million at the most recent edition. He was referring to Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi, one of the creations of GOtv Boxing Night, who went on to win the ABU welterweight title. That was pure delight. At this point, I also want to recognise the contributions of the media, which give the event publicity to burn it into fans’ consciousness, and the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), headed by the inimitable Dr Rauf Ladipo and assisted by Remi Aboderin, its Secretary-General. Same goes for other stakeholders. So, when you see the glamour around our shows, it is not solely by Flykite Sports or Jenkins Alumona.
There are people supplying the rhythm to which we are dancing and they are led by Chief Adewunmi Ogunsanya (SAN), Chairman, MultiChoice Nigeria and GOtv Boxing. I hope you’re satisfied.
Not exactly, but I’d leave it at that. What state was the sport in when you got involved?
It was gravely ill, as I hinted at earlier. It needed immediate life-saving surgery and we were glad its life was saved and its back on its feet. The next step is to consolidate the modest successes and push on. Part of the pushing on the GOtv Boxing NextGen Search, which we started in 2015 to replenish the ageing ranks of professional boxers. We are seeing the fruits, though not as quickly as we want. We have also, with funding from Chief Ogunsanya, established a residential ultra-modern gym for use by local and international boxers coming to fight in Nigeria.
The gym, which has modern boxing equipment, is conceived to be a talent incubator. We are getting assistance from coaches. We are also trying to expand the capacities of the coaches and were going to have a clinic for coaches, held by a former world champion, before Covid-19 intervened.
We will return to that now that things have lifted. Everything that can lift the sport is what we’ll throw at it as long as we can afford it. We don’t look at it strictly as boxing. We look at it as youth development. What we’re doing is to provide opportunities for young people to improve themselves and the society through their boxing talents. We will give it our best shot and pray that we succeed.
You must have a phone book filled with contacts of important boxing figures around the world, don’t you?
(Laughs) You sound like I’m Don King. I’m not. To answer your question, I have many of them across the continent and a few years ago George Foreman Jnr, son of former world heavyweight champion, was here in Nigeria and requested to meet with us. He said he was impressed with what we’re doing and expressed desire to partner with us. High praise from someone with boxing DNA. That and with others are still in the works and will be activated as soon as the opportunity arises. We are convinced that we will keep making progress. Continuous progress will bring success.
