The unending feud between the Nigerian Boxing Federation (NBF) and the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBBofC) is showing no sign of abating. CHRISTIAN OKPARA reports that the crisis has depleted boxing’s fortunes and risks destabilising the country’s status in the sport.

Amateur and professional boxing are often described as two different sports due to their contrasting goals: amateur boxing (or “Olympic-style”) prioritises scoring points and technical precision, while professional boxing emphasises power, damage, and entertainment.

Amateur and professional boxing differ primarily in duration, safety equipment, and scoring objectives. While amateurs fight three to four rounds wearing headgear and larger gloves, focusing on speed and technical point-scoring, professionals fight between four and 12 rounds without headgear and with smaller gloves, focusing on power, damage, and knockouts.

The rounds, intensity, equipment, and scoring criteria differ between the two arms of boxing, as do the compensation structures, because while amateur boxing is focused on development, tournaments, and Olympic goals, professional boxing is a career aimed at earning money, building a record, and winning championships.

Amateur boxers often transition to the professional ranks after building a strong technical foundation and accumulating experience.

Over the years, Nigeria has been a big player in both amateur and professional boxing. As a sovereign country, Nigeria won its first Olympic medal, a bronze, in the sport through Nojeem Maiyegun at the 1964 Tokyo Games. This achievement broke a 12-year medal drought for Nigeria since its Olympic debut in 1952. He also won a bronze at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.

Since that feat in Japan, the country has won five other medals, including another bronze medal through Isaac Ikhouria at the 1972 Games in Munich, Germany, three silver medals through Peter Konyegwachie (1984 Los Angeles), David Izonritei (1992 Barcelona) and Richard Igbineghu (1992 Barcelona).

Apart from the levels at the amateur rank, the country has also given the world some iconic professional boxers, including Dick “Tiger” Ihetu, who ruled the world middleweight class in the 1960s, former world heavyweight champion, Samuel Peters, “Golden Boy” Obisia Nwankpa, Davidson Andeh, Ngozika Ekwelum, Lat Darasin, Hogan Jimoh, David Dafiagbon and the renowned Hogan “Kid” Bassey.

These sterling professionals graduated from being classic amateur fighters to paid pugilists, developing their skills from infancy in the amateur ranks and honing them through various programmes to reach the top.

Over the years, amateur boxing and the professional ranks have had a symbiotic relationship, ensuring that one supports the other in making fighters great athletes.

But that relationship is on the brink of being shattered by a festering leadership crisis between the Nigerian Boxing Federation (NBF), which governs amateur boxing in the country, and the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBBofC), the administrative arm of professional boxing.

Recently, the country was jolted by protests across Lagos, where some professional boxers alleged that the NBF was meddling in their affairs.

Specifically, the protesting boxers accused the NBF of using its position close to the Presidency (the NBF chairman, Wale Edun, is the immediate past Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy) to try to usurp the functions of the NBBofC.

They accused the NBF Vice Chairman, Imonlei Yakubu Imadu, who runs the boxing outfit Yucateco Boxing Promotions, of trying to take over the NBBofC through the back door.

The protesters, mostly members of the Progressive Professional Boxers Association of Nigeria (PPBA), described NBF’s attempt to annex professional boxing as threatening the future of professional boxing in the country.

The protesters urged the chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, and stakeholders in Nigeria’s sports to call the NBF to order before it ruins the sport.

They said that the conflict has opened the door for unauthorised individuals allegedly using the NBF as a cover to interfere in the administration of professional boxing, an action they say is already having serious consequences.

The protesters cited the recent removal of scheduled fights involving Nigerian boxers from the global boxing records platform, BoxRec, as direct fallout of the crisis.

They also allege that the situation has not only jeopardised the careers of many boxers but also tarnished the reputation of Nigerian boxing on an international scale, adding that it is crucial for the authority to reach a swift consensus to restore order and ensure the sport thrives without further disruption.

Speaking through Sikiru Shogbesan, who is the secretary of the Progressive Professional Boxers Association of Nigeria (PPBA), the protesters said: “The situation is affecting our careers badly. We do not have any other means of livelihood other than boxing, and this feud is taking a serious toll on us.

“Boxing is the only source of our living; hence, we don’t want anyone with his inordinate ambition to toy with our source of livelihood. We all know that Imonlei Yakubu Imadu, the CEO of Yucateco Boxing Promotions, who is seen championing this crisis, doesn’t mean well for us; hence, we are using this avenue to call on the leadership of NBF to call him to order.”

Interestingly, the NBF’s Technical Director, Babatunde Laguda, tried to absolve the federation of any part in the crisis, saying that it’s a battle between an individual and the NBBofC.

Laguda, who is also a boxing coach, referee, and judge, told The Guardian that the crisis is a personal battle between a member of the NBF board and professional boxers, adding that the person involved in the crisis “is not an institution.

“If you see the protesters’ placards and hear what they have been saying, you will understand that the protest is not against the NBF but against one person. They are just calling on the NBF president to intervene.”

Reacting to the issues, NBBofC President Rauf Ladipo said the people perpetuating the crisis do not know the distinction between amateur boxing and the professional class.

He said: “Amateur boxing, which the NBF controls, is for the development of youth at the amateur level. The good ones are trained to represent Nigeria at the African Games, Commonwealth Games, and the Olympics.

“Professional boxing is managed by a different body that regulates programmes that are different from those in the amateur class. Now, somebody is saying that Nigerian boxing should be merged and managed by his body.

“Professional boxing is quite different from amateur. We are affiliated with world bodies that oversee the sport globally. I have been in boxing for 28 years. I was a promoter, but I had to stop organising fights because the law does not allow the board’s executive to run a boxing outing. Things are done properly in the NBBofC. We have seen the person behind the crisis and the rubbish they want to create.”

In his reaction to the issues, a former Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Dr Amos Adamu, stressed the importance of respecting established structures and regulatory authority in Nigerian boxing.

According to him, professional boxing is governed by distinct rules and regulations that differ from those of amateur boxing, and these regulations must be strictly followed to maintain order, safety, and professionalism in the sport.

“If anyone wants to go into professional boxing, they need to get a licence from the Boxing Board, which in this case is the NBBofC. There are rules and regulations, and these must be followed. You must be a member of a boxing board to want to rule it.”

Dismissing the crisis as a non-issue, Imadu, whom the NBBofC accused of being the mastermind of the conflict, said there is no crisis in boxing.

“To the best of my knowledge, there is no dispute between NBF and NBBofC. However, the NBBofC is entitled to its perception and narrative of whatever issues it thinks it has.”

Insisting that the whole crisis is one person’s idea, Imadu said that for a fight to ensue, there must be at least two people involved in such a fight.

“It’s quite unfortunate that we live in a society where there is a lot of interest, sentiment and irrational thinking as a result of the economy, which makes some people just take out some information and go with diverse narratives without weighing them.

“The 14-member NBF, which is the governing body of boxing in Nigeria, has a clear mandate – We regulate, reform, and make policies for boxing in all aspects of it in Nigeria. That is our mandate.

Imadu said the problem is that some persons are not comfortable with the reforms the NBF is effecting in Nigerian boxing, hence the resort to blackmail.

“As I speak to you, we assumed office in October 2025 and up to now, there is no such thing as the NBBofC on our agenda. We have never discussed NBBofC. We have never had any official communication with NBB of C.”

He explained: “The NBF board members met on January 5, and we announced that we are going to restructure and reform all aspects of boxing in Nigeria, because there are a lot of inconsistencies, atrocities, immoral calls, outcries, and the name of the country being put into disrespect.

“We’ve received a series of calls from the international body, through the government, to the Nigerian Boxing Federation. As board members, we looked into it and said we would reform.

“We started the reforms by listing our programmes as we’ve never done before.

“First, we said we must automate. There is no existing database for all boxers in Nigeria.

The Federation does not have a website for boxing in Nigeria where the international community can go to learn in detail about boxing in Nigeria, including the boxers, stakeholders, referees, and coaches, right?

“Before now, what they were doing was that whenever they were going for competitions, they would sit down, formulate somebody’s name because of relationships, and pick such a boxer to represent the country. We said that we will no longer be doing that.

“For any Nigerian to represent Nigeria in any international competition, there must be an open trial for all, so that the best would be selected to represent Nigeria. We announced it in January.

“In February, they saw that we did a national open trial, which I championed with my resources. Now, when that one was done, they were like, ‘Oh, this is what they are reforming.’

“They knew that if we completed the reforms, they would no longer have the opportunity to continue their illegalities and therefore chose to stop us by going to the media to blackmail and discredit us. They started shouting that there is a problem between the NBF and the NBBofC.

“Even when they went for the protest, if truly they said there is a problem between NBF and NBBofC, and they were protesting, then why are they nominating only my name? Why are they defaming my character? Why are they cyberstalking me? Am I the president of the federation? I am the vice president.”