GOtv Boxing Night: How Ekpo floored Burkina Faso’s ‘Tyson’

He was full of confidence that Nigeria’s Isaac Ekpo, a former Commonwealth Super Middleweight champion, would not survive four rounds, but at the end, Burkina Faso’s Jules Kabore ate his vomit.

The fight between Ekpo and Kabore was the headline bout in Sunday’s GOtv Boxing night, which took place at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos.

It was a 10-round bout, but Kabore, who is popularly known as ‘Tyson,’ could only last four rounds before falling to the superior power of Ekpo, who won by a knock out in the fifth round.

In the build up to the 4th GOtv Boxing Night, the boxer from Burkina Faso had boasted that Ekpo, popularly known as ‘Grenade,’ would suffer defeat in front of his home fans.

“No way, I cannot be defeated in Nigeria. I won four of my seven fights via TKO and I am undefeated since I turned pro. I am taller and better than Ekpo. Tell him that. He will fall. That is not a subject for debate,” Kabore ‘Tyson’ had boasted.

Ottoh “Joe Boy” Joseph emerged the star of the fourth edition of the GOtv Boxing Night on Sunday.

At the six-fight professional boxing event, Joseph, who defeated Nurudeen “Prince” Fatai in an explosive National Lightweight challenge contest, was voted the boxer of the night by journalists and won the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy and the cash prize of N1m.

Joseph is the second winner of the cash prize, the biggest pay-out in Nigerian boxing history. Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi was the first winner when he was named the best boxer at the third edition in July.

Joseph, whose sedate mien belies his tigerish nature on the ring, set upon his opponent from the start, Fatai, the National Lightweight champion, who had himself down as an invincible, dealing him furious combination of blows. At the end of the bout, Joseph was adjudged winner by unanimous decision.