A Nigerian born international sporting promoter, Dr. Adrian Ogun, is set to give back to the country by bringing his expertise in hunting and promoting talented sports personalities into the Nigerian boxing industry.
To this effect, arrangement has been concluded between the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBBofC ) and AMDM Promotions for Dr. Ogun to hunt, discover and develop unknown talented Nigerian boxers
Dr. Ogun and AMDM had in the past promoted world championship boxing shows that featured: Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather Jnr. Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko.
This, no doubt, prompted the NBBofC to recently granted a licence to AMDM Promotions to promote boxing shows in Nigeria to show case and develop home grown Nigerian boxing talent.
AMDM Promotions is part of the AMDM group of companies managed by Dr. Ogun and co-founded by Nigerian sports entrepreneur, Tunde Folawiyo. Mr Folawiyo, is a Forbes listed oil, banking and communications mogul – who has interests in the NBA franchise “Basketball Africa League (BAL) and a consortium building a new 10,000 plus seater sporting and entertainment arena in Lagos.
Dr. Ogun, through AMDM Africa, runs the boxing TV streaming arm of ‘Lion’ a UK based boxing promotional company owned by former World boxing champion Lennox Lewis (whose boxing career Ogun managed for over a decade).
AMDM Africa successfully streamed the Francis Ngannou v Tyson Fury controversial boxing match (where many viewers believed Cameroonian Ngannou was robbed of victory) to Airtel Africa’s mobile phone audience of up to 130 million users on 28th October 2023.
Lennox Lewis and Dr. Ogun aim to be ringside again in Riyadh on 17th February 2024 when Tyson Fury fights Olek Uysk in Riyadh for undisputed heavyweight WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO titles.
Ironically, Lennox Lewis – the last undisputed world heavy weight boxing champion since 1999 – loses his 25 year reign as the ‘last undisputed’ heavyweight title holder the day that fight is concluded on 17th February 2024.
“Over the past three decades Nigeria has produced world class heavyweight boxing talent in the form of: Henry Akinwande, Herbie Hide Maduagwu, Ike Ibeabuchj, Samuel Peter, Anthony Joshua and the rising new heavyweight boxing star, Efe Ajagba.
“Sadly, these sons of Nigeria were neither developed nor showcased in Africa for their adoring fans watch and enjoy.
“My mission at AMDM boxing promotions and AMDM Africa is to both develop Nigerian boxing talent on the African continent and provide youths with streaming access to the boxing performances of their heroes, via their mobile phones,” added Dr. Adrian Ogun.
The claims of Dr. Adrian Ogun are not without substance for he has a proven track record in developing Nigerian footballing talent in the form of John Obi Mikel and Taiye Taiwo when they were youth players in Nigeria and now Dr. Ogun wishes to replicate the same formula to develop boxing in Nigeria.
“When John Obi Mikel and Taiye Taiwo were 14 year old footballers, I ran a football and boxing agency in the UK, called “Sport Entertainment and Media” (S.E.M. was quoted on the London Stock Exchange AIMS junior market) with FIFA agent Jerome Anderson.
“SEM managed the sporting careers of Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Lennox Lewis and 30 more stars).
“John Shittu (a Nigerian football agent) introduced Obi Mikel and Taiye Taiwo to me at SEM and I used my relationship with Raymond Hack (of the South African Footballing Federation) and SEM’s financial muscle to get both Mikel and Taiwo placement contracts, at 14 years of age, to develop their footballing and academics skills with football club, Ajax Cape Town before their big money moves, years later, to European clubs. I plan to do the same now with Nigerian boxing talent”, explained Dr. Adrian Ogun.
Although the boxing infrastructure needed to develop young Nigerian boxing talent (quality boxing arena, gyms, trainers and international TV exposure) is not immediately available in Nigeria, Dr. Ogun has revived his long standing relationship with Golden Gloves, Africa’s longest and most established boxing organization (which has quality gyms, an abundance of trainers, venues and international TV exposure) to provide a ‘stop-gap’ to aid the development of Nigerian boxers until AMDM promotions has developed the necessary boxing infrastructure in Nigeria – starting with a world class boxing arena in Lagos in 2025.
“Last month Lennox Lewis accompanied me to visit Rodney Berman in South Africa, to watch his Golden Gloves star boxer, Kevin Lerena, win the WBC Bridgerweight world Heavyweight boxing title against Senad Gashi.
“Following Kevin Lerena’s world title win, Lennox, Rodney and I agreed to collaborate to find international opportunities to showcase South African Lerena’s undoubted talent on the international stage either in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia or Las Vegas, USA,” retorted Dr. Adrian Ogun.
In order to advance the career of heavyweight star Kevin Lerena, Adrian Ogun shall be in Riyadh on 23rd December to support Anthony Joshua in his eliminator fight with Otto Wallin and to lobby for Kevin Lerena to appear on Saudi Arabian international boxing shows featuring Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou during Riyadh seasons in 2024.
Prior the Francis Ngannou v Tyson Fury fight in October 2023, AMDM Africa agreed to work in collaboration with the management company of Cameroonian pugilist Francis Ngannou which could provide opportunities for Kevin Lerena to feature on the undercard of future Francis Ngannou boxing bouts.
