The real story of why Nigerian born new world boxing heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, turns out for Britain rather than the African giants has been revealed. Back in 2007, Joshua, then a greenhorn boxing hopeful, harbored lofty ambitions compete on the international stage.
Born in Watford, 16 miles north of London, to parents of Nigerian origins, he contacted Nigeria’s boxing federation about possibly representing the country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was invited for a trial, according to a story by ESPN. But after arriving late, with trials already wrapped up, Joshua was rejected and his short career as a Nigeria boxer ended before it even started.
But after defeating Wladimir Klitschko in London late on Saturday (Apr. 29) to win the WBA and IBO heavyweight titles, in addition to his IBF title, many Nigerians couldn’t help but wonder if, had events in 2008 turned out differently, Joshua could have been fighting for Nigeria instead.
Jeremiah Okorodudu revealed how it all happened to UK Sun. Okorodudu told UK Sun that Joshua wanted to fight for Nigeria at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
“Joshua was in Nigeria once to connect with his roots and I think that was in 2007,” Okorodudu said.
“He wanted a chance to compete for trials ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics qualifiers, but he was denied and not given a chance. Disappointed, he went back to England to represent Great Britain. He went on to win a gold that could have been a first for Nigeria at the Olympics.
“If only they had allowed him to compete for Nigeria, that gold would have been a Nigerian gold and not Great Britain’s.”
Adegboyega Adeniji-Adele, a boxing coach also confirmed the fact that Joshua was at the Nigerian camp.
“Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua is his name and his family come from Ogun State in Nigeria,” he said.
“When he visited, his intention was to represent Nigeria at the Olympics but he was denied in the trials. He had no other option than to go to Britain. It’s Nigeria’s loss, Britain’s gain.
“Personally, I feel sad that they let him go and those people should be made to explain why it was impossible to give him a chance.”
For his part, Obisia Nwankpa, Nigeria’s boxing coach at the time, was unapologetic about rejecting Joshua in an interview ahead of his championship fight .
“I would do it again because we must always do things the right way,” said the coach.
“We made the right call then, because he wasn’t good enough and we picked someone who was much better,” he was quoted as saying.
Nwankpa later told ESPN that Joshua refused to appear when he was told to come for trials.
“He reached out to us, asking to be part of our Olympic team, so we invited him to come down and take part in trials,” ESPN quoted Nawankpa to have said.
“Unfortunately, he did not appear when we asked him to and came down only when we had finished our trials, finalised our team and were about to travel for a training tour. Maybe other coaches would have accepted it, but I could not.
“It’s a pity he did not get his chance at that time, but the two boxers we selected then, Durodola Olanrewaju and Onorede Ohwarieme, were outstanding and experienced and there was no way I was going to drop them for somebody I had not even seen.”
