EndSARS protests inspired YUCATECO Boxing League, Imadu reveals

Eight Countries Set For Maiden WBC/ABU Amateur Championship

Apart from the global awareness that the 2020 EndSARS protests created on the alleged illegal activities of that arm of the Nigerian Police, the civil uprising also laid the foundation for one of the biggest sports development programmes in Nigeria, the YUCATECO Boxing League.

This was attested to during the week by the initiator of the league, Imonlei Yakubu Imadu, who confessed that he was inspired to start the project after watching thousands of the country’s youths flexing their muscles in the streets across the country.

Speaking at the unveiling of the first World Boxing Council (WBC)/African Boxing Union Amateur Championship slated to hold in Lagos next month, Imadu said the protests opened his eyes to the large number of boxing raw materials waiting to be tapped. He said: “The EndSARS protests gave me the vision that we can do something great with the teeming Nigerians, who have nobody looking out for them.

“I was watching the protests on television and what I saw gave me the inspiration to start the league with some of my friends and family members. Today, it has become a big success as we have been able to turn many of the youths into championship fighters.”

To take the project a little higher, Imadu revealed that the YUCATECO Boxing League would hold an amateur championship featuring eight African countries in conjunction with the globally-acclaimed World Boxing Council (WBC) and the African Boxing Union (ABU) in Lagos from February 6 to 8.

Imadu said that the WBC/ABU championship will also serve as qualifier for the WBC Amateur Boxing World Cup in Mexico later in the year, stressing that boxers from Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Togo, Benin Republic, Senegal, Cameroon and host country, Nigeria will participate in the championship scheduled to hold inside the newly built Gymnasium at Teslim Balogun Stadium financed by his boxing promotion outfit.

He affirmed his belief that Nigerian boxers would perform well at the championship as the bulk of the pugilists competed in the first two seasons of the YUCATECO Boxing League.

“Our mission to reposition boxing in the country and the continent is borne out of our passion for the growth and development of young people, most especially those from the less privileged communities, because we do not intend to stop anytime soon, we took another bold step to initiate the first ever WBC amateur boxing championship in Africa. This groundbreaking event, which serves as qualifier for the first ever WBC amateur boxing World Cup in Mexico, is also sanctioned by the ABU. It will give African boxers the opportunity to be ranked by both the WBC /ABU.”

The YUCATECO chief executive emphasised the need for corporate support of grassroots sports development to give a brighter future to the less privileged on the streets.

Also speaking on the WBC/ABU Championship, the technical director of YUCATECO Boxing Promotion, Babatunde Laguda, said the competition will be on a knockout basis in both male and female weight categories.

“The winners of the first round bouts will proceed to the semifinals and from there to the finals.
“One of the main incentives is that the outstanding boxers will qualify for the maiden World Cup in Mexico,” he said.