Henry Akinwande happy with gains of Boxing Hall of Fame

With four editions already gone and the fifth coming up next Saturday, Henry Akinwande is already counting the gains of the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame.

“It has been rewarding so far; we now have a couple of talents with great potential that can be brushed up to become future stars,” he said.

The former World Boxing Organisation heavyweight champion, who heads the Lagos State Boxing Association, said his association has discovered a number of talents that can be groomed for the next year’s National Sport Festival, and thanked the initiator of the competition, Wale Edun, and other Local Governments in Lagos for providing competitions for budding talents.

Too old to box

Responding to complaints from boxing club coaches, particularly Nigeria Amateur Coaches Association, National Stadium Chapter that their boxers are being excluded from participating in the monthly event, Akinwande said the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame is meant for young up and coming boxers:

“The boxers they are talking about are mostly in their thirties, and they want us to feature them in amateur bouts? That will defeat the whole purpose of seeking to discover new talents”.

New format

Akinwande disclosed that from January next year, the competition would be expanded to include, established amateur boxers, noting that the outstanding boxers so far pencilled down will at a later date measure themselves against state champions and national champions, partly to help them prepare for the next sports festival.

This month’s edition of the competition comes up on Saturday at Rowe Park in Yaba. Lagos State. The Chief Coach, Babafemi Adefemi, says eight bouts have been scheduled to take place that day. He added that this edition will be used as dress rehearsal for the Governors Belt competition, which is the grand finale of the Hall of Fame this year. He said boxers who have won in the previous editions will square up, with champions from the competitions organised by the various local government councils in the state.