As an ex-Olympian, Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Okorodudu has represented Nigeria in many parts of the world both as an amateur and professional boxer.
Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Okorodudu
Now one of the national team boxing coaches, Jerry, as he is fondly called, says he has no regrets choosing boxing as a profession.
“I don’t think I have any regret taking into boxing because it is a sport close to my heart and I enjoyed my active days as a boxer,” he began the conversation with TheNiche.
With about 85 fights as an amateur and 40 fights as a professional boxer, the former champion is still bitter over his loss to Sun Sho Shp of North Korea in the quarter-final stage of the Los Angeles ’84 Olympic Games.
A split decision of 3-2 by the judges in favour of Sho Shp denied Okorodudu entry into the medals range of the middleweight class of the boxing event, and he insisted that he was robbed of victory by the judges.
Looking back, he said: “The fight is one that I cannot forget in my life because I did everything to get to the medals range. I still maintain that Sho Shp did not beat me in that fight.
“I protested the decision and officials of the Nigeria Amateur Boxing Association (NABA) also protested, but they (technical officials) turned down our protest because they did not want me to pass that stage. It was very sad, but that is boxing for you.”
He also gave an insight into how he ventured into what he calls the “art of self-defence”.
In his words: “I fell in love with boxing in Benin City at a very young age and was inspired by the achievements of legendary Mohammed Ali whom I wanted to take after in the pugilist game.
“Although I did not have the opportunity of watching any of his fights back then, I was fascinated by his achievements which I read from boxing magazines. All these influenced my decision of taking to boxing as a profession and I did everything to emulate him, but was unable to have a shot at a world title, even after being ranked in the 16th position by the World Boxing Council (WBC) in 1989.”
He also recalled his toughest fight as a professional boxer.
“The fight I will describe as my toughest was the one against Mike Killock of England who once drew with Sugar Ray Leonard. I fought him in California, and since I turned professional, that has been my toughest fight.
“I will always remember it for a very long time because in that fight, there was a lot of tension with fans throwing coins inside the ring as a way of showing support for the boxers. It was a good fight and it ended in a draw,” he reminisced.
Though, he commended the efforts of the present Minister of Sports, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, and Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Gbenga Elegbeleye, in the area of sports development, Okorodudu is quick to add that there is no basis to compare boxing in the country during his time and now.
Said he: “There is no basis for comparison between our time and what is happening now. During our time, Afuze Games Village in the then Bendel State was fully functional, Lagos State had its own at Surulere, likewise other states, and competitions were organised on a regular basis. That was why Nigeria was producing world class sportsmen and women. But the situation has now changed.
“Today, everything has been left in the hands of government, which is not good for the development of the sport.”
On the way forward, he called for regular trainings and competitions, just as he cited the World Boxing Championship in Azerbaijan in which Nigerian boxers participated last November.
“The way forward is to allow those who know their onus to handle boxing and employ coaches in all the zones. At least each zone should have about four or five coaches and they are provided with the logistics to work.
“There is nothing bad in having five coaches in Lagos, Benin, Kaduna, Ibadan, Enugu, Port Harcourt and other zones whose duty will be to discover talents at the grassroots and nurture them to become future champions.
“There should also be zonal competitions where athletes could be discovered. We used to have mini festivals or age grade competitions and the senior category. What happened to those competitions? I fought in intermediate before graduating to the senior level. Nothing should prevent us from going back to that.
“This year, we’ve featured in the Youth Olympic Games in Bulgaria and the just concluded Africa Youth Games held in Botswana. With all these regular competitions, the boxers will improve and will do the country proud,” he said.
He also advised the boxers to stay focused and keep on training, while he appealed to state governors to employ the services of sportsmen and women to handle their sports.
“They should bring back the good old days. We used to train at the Afuze Camp in Benin City and getting sponsorship from the government to further our studies and do sports at the same time.
“I was one of the beneficiaries of Samuel Ogbemudia scholarship in Benin City then. There were also several other athletes too and it helped us to excel,” he added.
Okorodudu fact file
• National light middleweight champion – 1974 to 1984
• African Middleweight champion – 1981
• Bronze medallist at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia – 1982
• Two gold medals winner in the African Championship – 1982
• Quarterfinalist at the World Boxing Championship in Berlin, Germany – 1982
• Silver medallist at the Pre-Boxing Championship in Germany – 1984
• Quarterfinalist at the Los Angeles Olympics in U.S.A. – 1984
