Kunle Adewale

Ahead of the Independence Day boxing showdown billed for the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos, promoter of the fights, tagged-‘Chaos in the Ring’, Group CEO, The Balmoral Group, Dr Ezekiel Adamu, has stated that some of the invited boxers and some big media organizations are already in the country for the October 1 boxing night.
In a chat with THISDAY, Dr Adamu revealed that former British, Commonwealth, and European Champion, Dan Azeez (21-2-1, 13 KOs) is in town, while Cruiserweight contender Brandon Glanton and his team will be hitting the shores of Nigeria this week.
He also confirmed that former IBF World Champion, Richard Commey and Ray Seitzhanov will be in the country this week with their team, while Mohammad Ali’s daughter, Dr Debra King, and Anthony Joshua’s team will also be attending the Independence Day fight.
“Dan Azeez is in town training while Marcus Brown and his team are in the country. We have TalkSport, SkySports, BeiN Magazine, as well as other media partners arriving in the country. We will be having top boxing big players in the country. The daughter of Muhammad Ali, Dr Debra King, is also expected,” Dr. Adamu said.
He saud the paramount thing before Balmoral Group is to impact the lives of boxers positively, saying:” But beyond boxing, how do we impact the lives of boxers? Boxing is a sport, but how does it affect the lives of individuals? It is about using boxing as a tool to engage the youth and attract tourism to the country. Our local boxers are in camp, gearing up for the October event. It is all about celebrating our independence. Talking about our culture, people know us with Afrobeat in Africa; we have infused music and our culture, which is our dressing too. We want the fighters coming into the ring to dress in our cultural attire to also showcase our culture. Those are the things we are putting in place, not just the way it is normally done.”
He indeed assured Nigerians that the organisers have put every machinery in place to ensure a successful boxing event come October 1.
”This is not the first time that we are hosting a big event at the highest level; we’ve held the biggest concert in Nigeria, and the October 1 event is the biggest boxing event in Nigeria. We have our strategies, but we know there is no such thing as perfection; it’s about getting better than we were last time. We have contacted the best consultants. We believe that with perfect preparation, things will surely go as planned. We just want to impact the lives of our local boxers and make them more significant by giving back to the people, ” he expressed.
Against the fear in some circles that the presence of top musician on the night might take away the shine of boxing which is the main event.
The Balmoral boss said the presence of Afrobeat stars would only complement the event.
”We’ve talked about this before. The last time we held a boxing event, we dug deep into the roots and put the right things in place that made people feel it was an overnight success, not knowing that a lot went into our preparation. The last boxing event we had was a celebrity fight between Street Darlington and Portable.
”A lot of people were more interested in the celebrity than boxing, and that made us put the celebrity fight on hold because we don’t want it to overshadow the sports. This time around, music won’t take the shine off the event itself because every boxer who is coming into the ring will have an artist with him. Everything is planned, and we have a schedule for every fight, and we cannot stop a fight and allow music to come in between. Music is here to complement boxing. We are trying new things, and once we get it right, you are sure there will be improvement,” Dr Adamu noted.
He however promise that in no distant future Nigeria would become the global boxing hub, with another big boxing show set for December 19, and during the Easter holiday in 2026.

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