The best club at the maiden Nationwide Boxing League will win a N20 million prize, the organisers, YUCATECO Boxing Promotions, have said.
According to YUCATECO Promotions’ Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Omole Yakubu Imadu, the league will run for 12 weeks with different boxing clubs fighting for the purse.
Imadu explained that the league will hold in eight venues in Lagos and six venues in other South-west states, saying that the Lagos leg will hold at the gymnasium of the National Institute For Sports (NIS), National Stadium, Lagos on November 6 and 7, before moving to Ikorodu on November 10 and 11.
It will be the turn of Agege on November 17 and 18, from where it will move to Molete, Ibadan and Akure before holding in Ijebu Ode and Abeokuta and then return toEgbeda, Lagos State.
Explaining the modalities for the league, the Edo State-born promoter stated that boxers would gain points fighting in each venue, adding that apart from the N20 million at stake, boxers would get purse for each appearance, just as clubs would gain points depending on the performance of their pugilists.
The club that gets the highest point will be declared winner at the end of hostilities.
Imadu added that boxers are expected to fight in eight weight categories with the best fighter in each category winning N300,000, while the first and second runners-up will get N200,000 and N100,000 respectively.
According to him, after the maiden edition, there will be a one-month break before season two begins.
He noted that the purpose of the YUCATECO Boxing League is to take the youths off the street and encourage them to make meaningful use of their strength in the ring, instead of causing nuisance in the society.
He commended the Nigeria Boxing Federation and Lagos State Boxing Association for their support and appealed to corporate bodies to support the effort to make the youths meaningful citizens of the country.
Meanwhile, a technical official of the Nigeria Boxing Federation (NBF), Babatunde Laguda, has commended the outfit for their efforts in developing the sport, promising that officials would strictly adhere to all the rules at the league.
Speaking at the pre-championship technical seminar at Old Skool Conference Hall, National Stadium, Lagos, on Monday, Laguda said that the stage is set for the commencement of the league, which he described as the first of its kind in the history of amateur boxing in Nigeria.
