Five months after the demise of boxing legend, Obisia Nwakpa, his family is still searching for funds to bury him. The remains of the former World Boxing Council (WBC) light welterweight title contender are still lying in a Lagos morgue.

Nwankpa, fondly called Golden Glove, died on June 3, 2025, aged 75, after a protracted illness. Despite decades of service as both a celebrated boxer and national coach, his family told The Guardian that they have been left alone to handle his medical debts and burial plans.

His widow, Madam Franca Nwankpa, lamented that the family spent over N9 million on hospital bills before his death, adding that the expenditure drained their resources. “The sickness exhausted everything we had. Now, even the burial has become impossible,” she said.

She added that the cost of keeping his remains in the mortuary has risen to nearly N2 million, with no help forthcoming from the sports authorities or government.

She regretted that all the letters Nwankpa’s family sent to the National Sports Commission (NSC), the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), and the National Olympic Committee (NOC) have gone unanswered.

“It is heartbreaking that after serving Nigeria for over 40 years, as a boxer, a national coach, and an international representative, no one has reached out to us,” she lamented.

Born in Okpulukwu Umosu, Isiala Ngwa North, Abia State, Nwankpa was one of Africa’s finest boxers in the 1970s and 1980s. He won multiple continental titles and once challenged America’s Saoul Mamby for a world title in Lagos, a fight that remains part of Nigerian boxing lore.

On retirement, he coached the national boxing team, nurturing young fighters, who went on to represent Nigeria internationally. Saddened by the apathy Nwankpa’s situation has elicited from the authorities, his associates said that the situation mirrors the larger neglect of retired sports heroes across the country.

“Many of our champions end up forgotten; there’s no welfare structure for those who served this nation in sports,” said a former boxer, who trained under Nwankpa.

With no response from federal authorities, Madam Franca said she has turned to the Abia State government for support. She has reportedly met with the commissioner and director of sports, who promised to brief Governor Alex Otti on the matter.

“I am appealing to Governor Otti and friends of my late husband to help me put him to rest by November, Obisia should not be abandoned in death,” she said.